1 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


A  SHORT  HISTORY 

OF  THE 

ENGLISH  DRAMA 


BY 


BENJAMIN  BRAWLEY 


n 


NEW  YORK 

HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1 92 1,  BY 
HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND  COMPANY,  INC. 


PRINTED    IN    THE    U.  S.   A.   BY 

THE    QUINN    a    BOOEN    COMPANY 

RAHWAM.    N.    J. 


625- 

3   ' 


^0 

WILLIAM  ALLAN   NEILSON 

TEACHER  AND   FRIEND 


415498 


PEEFACE 

This  book  makes  no  special  effort  to  be  either  original  or 
profound.  It  aims  simply  to  set  forth  in  brief  compass 
the  main  facts  that  one  might  wish  to  have  at  hand  in  his 
first  course  in  the  English  Drama.  The  great  revival  of 
interest  in  this  subject  within  recent  years  has  produced 
many  noteworthy  studies,  especially  in  the  literature  of  the 
age  of  Elizabeth ;  but,  singularly  enough,  most  of  the  books 
that  have  been  written  have  been  for  those  who  already 
knew  most  about  the  subject.  The  present  work  pre- 
supposes only  that  the  student  has  had  an  elementary  col- 
lege course  in  the  history  of  English  Literature,  and  with 
just  so  much  as  a  basis  it  endeavors  to  assist  him  as  he 
passes  on  to  the  study  of  the  greatest  of  the  forms  that  this 
literature  has  so  far  assumed. 

The  book  holds  itself  strictly  to  the  history  of  the  drama. 
There  is  accordingly  no  introductory  discussion  of  tech- 
nique. Such  information  may  be  given  at  the  pleasure 
of  the  instructor,  or  it  may  be  found  in  convenient  form  in 
Dr.  Elizabeth  Woodbridge's  The  Drama,  its  Lav)  and 
Technique  or  in  Professor  Baker's  comprehensive  Bra- 
matic  Technique,  The  bibliogTaphy  is  necessarily  selective. 
While  emphasizing  the  books  that  one  m.ight  need  in  an 
introductory  course,  it  also  contains  some  suggestions  for 
more  advanced  study. 

In  presenting  the  subject  of  the  English  Drama  in  this 
form  I  have  naturally  had  to  be  indebted  to  many  students 
of  special  men  or  periods.  Quotations  are  frequent,  espe^ 
cially  where  statements  are  so  final  in  their  precision  as 

▼ 


Ti  PREFACE 

to  leave  no  chance  for  me  to  improve  upon  them.  All 
students  regard  with  respect  Ward's  History  of  English 
Dramatic  Literature  and  are  grateful  for  the  Camhridge 
History  of  Englisli  Literature,  while  such  works  as  Lee's 
Life  of  William  SJiukespeare  and  Baker's  The  Develop- 
ment of  Shakespeare  as  a  Dramatist  have  hecome  simply 
a  part  of  the  general  tradition.  In  the  Camhridge  History 
I  feel  especially  indebted  to  the  several  articles  by  Mr. 
Harold  Child,  and  also  to  the  one  on  ^'  The  Drama  and  the 
Stage"  by  Professor  G.  H.  !N'ettleton,  while  the  latter 
VvTiter's  English  Drama  of  the  Restoration  and  Eighteenth 
Century  has  proved  altogether  indispensable.  Some  sim- 
ply written  but  very  accurate  works  for  school  use  have 
helped  again  and  again.  Such  are  the  Introduction  to 
Professor  C.  G.  Child's  edition  of  The  Second  Shepherd's 
Play,  Everyman,  and  other  Early  Plays,  MacCracken, 
Pierce,  and  Durham's  An  Introduction  to  Shalcespeare,  and 
jSTeilson  and  Thorndike's  The  Facts  about  Shalcespeare, 
Constantly  I  have  had  to  avail  myself  of  the  results  of  the 
studies  of  Professor  F.  E.  Schelling;  to  Professor  Barrett 
Wendell  I  must  ever  be  gi-ateful  for  helpful  criticism; 
while  to  President  W.  A.  l^eilson  and  Professor  J.  M. 
Manly  I  feel  an  indebtedness  difficult  to  express.  Back 
and  forth  between  these  last  two  teachers  it  was  long  my 
happy  lot  as  a  student  to  pass ;  their  works  are  frequently 
cited  in  the  notes ;  and  while  neither  of  course  is  respon- 
sible for  any  statement  on  my  own  part,  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  take  this  occasion  to  thank  two  men  who  in  themselves 
so  excellently  represent  the  highest  ideals  of  modem 
scholarship. 

Benjamin  Brawlet. 

Cambbidge, 
January  15,  1921. 


CONTENTS 

I.   THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

PAGE 

1.  Origin      . 1 

2.  Artistic  Connections 3 

3.  Miracle  Plays 4 

4.  Early  Development 5 

6.    Cycles 7 

6.  Secular  Elements 8 

II.    MORALITY  AND  INTERLUDE 

7.  The  Temper  of  the  Middle  Ages 11 

8.  Moralities 11 

9.  Interludes 15 

10.  John  Heywood 16 

11.  The  Vice 18 

12.  Conditions  of  Presentation 19 

III.    THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE 

Spirit  of  the  Age 21 

Elements  Contributing  to  the  Drama 21 

First  Regular  Comedies 23 

First  Regular  Tragedies 28 

Chronicle  Plays 32 

First  Theatres 34 

Stage  and  Setting 36 

Theatrical  Companies 38 

IV.    SHAKESPEARE'S  EARLIER  CONTEMPORARIES 

Prominent  Dramatists 41 

John  Lyly 42 

George  Peele 45 

Robert  Greene 47 

Thomas  Kyd 50 

Christopher  Marlowe 52 

V.    SHAKESPEARE 

27.  Life 57 

28.  Indebtedness  to  Predecessors 59 

29.  Periods  of  Dramatic  Work 60 

yU 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


PAGB 

30.  Plays  of  First  Period 61 

31.  Plays  of  Second  Period        .        .        .  .        .        .        .  67 

32.  Plays  of  Third  Period 74 

33.  Plays  of  Fourth  Period 81 

34.  Shakespeare's  Advance  in  his  Art 84 

35.  The  Tradition  of  Shakespeare 85 

36.  Shakespeare's  Greatness 88 


VI.    SHAKESPEARE'S  LATEPv  CONTEMPORARIES  AND 
THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA 

37.  General  Characteristics  of  the  Period 90 

38.  Ben  Jonson 91 

39.  George  Chapman 98 

40.  John  Marston 101 

41.  Thomas  Dekker 102 

42.  Beaumont  and  Fletch'^r 104 

43.  Thomas  Heywood 108 

44.  John  Webster 110 

45.  Thomas  Middleton Ill 

46.  Philip  Massir^c'er 114 

47.  John  Ford       T 117 

48.  James  Shirley 119 

49.  The  Puritan  Attack  on  the  Stage 122 


VII.    DRYDEN  AND  HIS  AGE 

50.  The  Era  of  the  Restoration.    Heroic  Drama  ....  127 

51.  William  D'Avcnant 131 

52.  John  Dryden 132 

53.  Etherege,  Wycherley,  and  Others 138 

54.  Nathaniel  Lee 141 

55.  Thomas  Otway 142 


VIII.    LATE  RESTORATION  DRAMA  AND  THE  RISE  OF 
DEMOCRATIC  TENDENCIES 

56.  Elements  of  the  Transition 145 

57.  William   Congrevc 148 

58.  John  Vanbrugh 151 

59.  George  Farquhar 152 

60.  CoUey   Gibber 153 

CI.    Richard  Steele 155 

62.  Joseph  Addison 156 

63.  Nicholas  Rowe 158 

IX.    THE  ERA  OF  SENTIMENTALISM 

64.  The  NcAV  Age.    Drama  vs.  Novel 160 

65.  Pantomime:  John  Rich 163 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

66.  Ballad  Opera:  John  Gay 164 

67.  Domestic  Tragedy:  George  Lillo 164 

68.  Burlesque:  Henry  Fielding 167 

69.  Adaptation:  David  Garrick 169 

70.  Romanticism:  Jolin  Home 171 

71.  Pure  Comedy:  Foote  and  Colman 173 

72.  Sentimentaiism :   Kelly  and  Cumberland         ....  174 

73.  Summary  of  the  Period 178 

X.    GOLDSMITH  AND  SHERIDAN 

74.  Reaction  from  Sentimentaiism 179 

75.  Oliver  Goldsmith 182 

76.  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan 184 

77.  Close  of  the  Century 188 

XI.    EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAMA: 
ROMANTICISM 

78.  Era  of  Romanticism 193 

79.  "  Closet  Drama "           197 

80.  Late  Georgian  Dramatists 200 

81.  James  Sheridan  Knowles 203 

82.  Edward  Bulwer-Lytton 204 

83.  Robert  Browning 205 

84.  Alfred  Tennyson 207 

85.  Other  Mid-Century  Dramatists 210 

86.  Robertson,  Gilbert,  and  the  Transition 212 

XII.    LATER  VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA: 
ANALYSIS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  IMPULSE 

87.  Continental  Influences 216 

88.  Oscar    Wilde 220 

89.  Arthur  Wing  Pinero 221 

90.  Henry  Arthur  Jones 222 

91.  George  Bernard  Shaw 224 

92.  James  Matthew  Barrie 226 

93.  John  Galsworthy 227 

94.  Stephen  Phillips 228 

95.  Granville  Barker 230 

96.  Irish  National  Theatre.     Lady  Gregory       ....  230 

97.  William  Butler  Ysats 232 

98.  John  Millington  Synge 233 

99.  Other  Recent  Dramatists 234 

100.    Current  Tendencies 235 

Bibliography 239 

Index 251 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE 
ENGLISH  DRAMA 

CHAPTEE  I 

BEGINNINGS'  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

I.  Origin. — The  English  Drama,  of  which  we  now 
think  as  a  highly  developed  form  of  entertainment,  found 
its  origin  not  in  any  accepted  centers  of  amusement  hut 
in  the  dignified  service  of  the  Church.  While  moreover  in 
later  centuries  the  drama  of  Greece  and  Eome  had  con- 
siderable influence  on  the  English  stage,  there  was  no  real 
connection  between  the  classic  drama  and  the  origins  of  the 
new  form  that  arose  in  the  Middle  Ages.  If  in  the  earlier 
mediaeval  centuries  in  England  people  could  not  go  to 
anything  like  a  modern  theatre,  the  theatre  could  at  least 
come  to  them ;  and  it  came  in  the  shape  of  the  minstrel,  the 
scop,  or  the  gleeman,  who  went  from  one  great  home  to 
another,  and  of  whom  we  hear  so  much  in  early  song  and 
story.  The  minstrels  gave  entertainments  that  we  should 
now  term  recitals,  and  into  their  work  the  idea  of  imper- 
sonation was  frequently  introduced.  Toward  the  end  of 
the  ninth  century,  however,  there  began  on  the  Continent  a 
development  that  was  destined  ultimately  to  revolutionize 
all  such  means  of  passing  tedious  hours  away.  "  The 
Church,  though  it  had  sternly  repressed  the  classic  drama, 
in  time  came  itself  to  use  dramatic  action  to  enrich  its 

1 


2        A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

liturpj  anrl  to  enfon;e  its  teachings."  ^  Elaboration  of  tlie 
liturgy  developed  by  means  of  *'  tropes,"  wnich  are  defined 
more  generally  as  '^  any  interpolations  of  liturgical  texts,"  ' 
and  more  specifically  as  "  texts  appropriate  for  special 
days,  adapted  for  choral  rendering  in  the  musical  portions 
of  the  Ma.^s."  ^  ''  Some  of  these  tropes  were  simply  lyric, 
or  hymnal,  in  character;  some,  involving  dialogue,  were 
from  the  first  dramatic  in  character.  Certain  tropes  usee* 
at  Easter,  Christmas,  and  Ascension  were  of  special  im- 
portance as  starting  points  of  dramatic  expansion."  *  Of 
first  importance  is  the  Qaerti  Quaeriiis,  an  Easter  trope 
based  on  the  words  of  the  angel  who  addressed  the  holy 
women  who  went  to  anoint  the  body  of  Christ  and  an- 
nounced to  them  the  Resurrection,  and  preserved  for  us 
from  the  Benedictine  Abbry  of  St.  Gail.  ^'  It  was  origi- 
nally sung  as  a  choral  addition  to  the  music  of  the  Introit 
of  the  Mass,  that  is,  the  procession  with  which  the  Mass 
begins.  In  course  of  time,  however,  as  its  dramatic  pos- 
sibilities were  developed,  it  was  detached  from  this  posi- 
tion, where  elaboration  in  the  way  of  action  was  impos- 
sible, and  inserted  in  the  services  preceding  the  Mass." 
The  words  of  the  trope  were  as  follows : 

Quern  quaeritis  in  eepulchro,  0  Christicolae? 
lesiun  Nazarenum  crucifixum,  0  eaelicola. 
Non  est  hie ;  surrexit  sicut  praedixerat : 
Ite,  nuntiate  quia  surrexit  a  mortuis. 

These  four  sentences  appear  in  all  Easter  plays.    At  first 
they  were  of  course  not  produced  dramatically,  but  even  in 

*  Child,  Introduction  to  The  Second  Shepherds'  Play,  Everyman, 
amd  other  Early  Plays,  xii. 

*  Manly. 

»  Child,  Introduction,  xiL 

*  Child. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA        3 

t$ie  tenth  century  they  passed  the  boundary  of  non-drama 
ind  drama.  ^ 

2.  Artistic  Connections. — From  such  a  germ  as  the 
Quern  Quaeritis  one  can  easily  see  that  expansion  could 
take  place  in  various  ways.  Especially  could  there  be 
introduced  various  preliminaries  to  the  actual  dialogue  at 
the  tomb.  As  the  service  of  the  Church  moreover  was  so 
universal  in  the  western  world  in  the  Middle  Ages,  any 
innovation  that  was  countenanced  on  the  Continent  would 
in  course  of  time  naturally  find  a  place  in  England.  Dia- 
logue seems  to  find  its  ultimate  origin  in  the  antiphons,  or 
choral  chants,  of  the  sixth  century,  in  which  the  two  sides 
of  the  choir  alternately  responded  to  each  other,  ^ilong 
with  dialogue  developed  dramatic  action,  tableaux  being 
recogujized  as  a  means  of  impressing  upon  the  unlearned 
the  principles  of  Christian  trutk  Everywhere,  from  the 
tenth  century  on,  the  production  in  churches  of  a  certain 
species  of  alternating  song  was  combined  with  some  kind 
of  theatrical  staging ;  and,  simultaneously  with  the  progress 
of  this  staging,  the  texts  of  the  songs  were  enlarged  by  free 
poetical  additions.®  "  Most  of  the  literary  monuments  that 
enable  us  to  reconstruct  the  gradual  rise  of  the  Christian 
drama  are  of  German  or  French  origin ;  "  but  one,  Con- 
cordia Regular^s,  composed  during  the  reign  of  Edgar 
(959-975)  and  containing  rules  for  divine  senice  in  Eng- 
lish monasteries,  iiu niches  us  in  the  Quern  Quaeritis 
"  the  oldest  extant  example  in  European  literature  of  the 
theatrical  recital  of  an   alternating   song  in  church."  ^ 

"  Manly. 

•Creizenach:   "The  Early  Religious  Drama,"  Cambridge  Hiatorif 
of  English  Literature  (hereafter  referred  to  as  C.  H.  E,  L.),  V,  40. 
'  Creizenach. 


4   A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA; 

Upon  all  of  the  very  earliest  plajs,  however,  severe  limita- 
tions were  everywhere  placed;  the  lang^uage  was  always 
Latin,  the  subject  was  always  taken  from  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  performance  was  in  a  church.  Unconsciousl;) 
everybody  waited  for  the  day  when  removal  to  the  outside 
of  the  sacred  edifice  would  do  away  with  a  severely  re- 
pressive atmosphere  and  give  freer  play  to  genuine  dra- 
matic emotion. 

3.  Miracle  Plays. — A  few  definitions  ®  may  now  be  in 
place.  A  Mystery  play  is  one  originating  in  the  liturgy 
and  presenting  an  event  or  series  of  events  taken  from  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  A  Miracle  play  is  a  dramatization  of  an 
event  or  legend  from  the  life  of  a  saint  or  martyr.  A! 
Morality  is  a  dramatization  of  an  allegory  intended  to 
inculcate  some  useful  lesson  of  religion,  morality,  or  sci- 
ence. With  the  Morality  we  shall  deal  in  our  next  chapter. 
The  word  mystery  was  not  originally  in  use  in  England ;  ^ 
on  the  other  hand,  as  compared  with  France,  strict  miracle 
plays  were  very  few  in  number.  In  England,  however,  the 
name  of  the  thing  of  which  the  country  had  little  became 
attached  to  that  of  which  it  had  much,  so  that  for  this 
country  at  least  it  is  generally  best  to  speak  of  the  early 
productions  as  miracle  rather  than  mystery  plays.  In 
course  of  time  the  early  religious  plays  came  to  consist  of 
three  main  groups  of  scenes:  from  the  Old  Testament, 
scenes  of  the  Creation,  the  Fall  of  Man,  the  Death  of  Abel, 

"  To  be  credited  in  substance  to  Manly.  Note  this  editor's  /Speci- 
mens of  the  Pre-Shaksperean  Drama,  the  best  and  most  accessible 
collection  of  early  English  plays.  For  general  discussion,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  work  of  Ward  and  Creizenach,  note  for  a  brief  and 
popular  study  Bates:  The  English  Religious  Drama,  and,  for  further 
study,  Chambers:  The  Mediaeval  Stage. 

•  Ward:  "The  Origins  of  English  Drama,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  V,  15. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA       5 

and  the  Deluge;  and,  from  tlie  New  Testament,  scenes 
centering  around  the  Birth  of  Christ,  such  as  the  Annunci- 
ation, the  Visit  of  the  Shepherds,  the  coming  of  the  Three 
Kings  and  the  Flight  into  Egypt,  and  also  scenes  con- 
nected with  the  Kesurrection,  such  as  those  of  the  Entry 
into  Jerusalem,  the  Crucifixion,  and  the  Walk  to  Emmaus. 
The  chronological  order  of  development  in  the  three 
groups,  however,  was  exactly  the  reverse  of  the  order  just 
given. 

4.  Early  Development. — It  took  in  England  more  than 
two  hundred  years  (or  until  ahout  1250)  for  all  the 
changes  to  be  made  from  the  little  dialogue  that  was  simply 
a  part  of  the  liturgy  to  Bible  scenes  or  plays  that  were 
regularly  presented  for  public  instruction  or  entertain- 
ment. As  the  presentation  of  liturgical  plays  became  more 
elaborate,  and  as  more  space  was  required  both  for  them 
and  for  the  audience,  the  place  of  performance  changed 
from  the  church  to  the  churchyard,  and  then  to  the  street 
or  marketplace  or  convenient  open  spaces  about  the  town. 
"  Latin  gave  way  to  the  vernacular,  and  the  priests  to  lay- 
men; and  miracle  plays  representing  the  lives  of  patron 
saints  were  given  by  schools,  trade  gilds,  and  other  lay 
institutions.''  ^°  While  moreover  the  scenes  gathered 
around  the  Birth  of  Christ  were  especially  appropriate  to 
the  Christmas  season,  and  those  of  the  Eesurrection  to 
Easter,  more  and  more  it  became  evident  that  because  of 
the  weather  at  these  seasons,  some  day  in  the  late  spring  or 
early  summer  would  be  preferable  for  the  most  elaborate 
productions.  In  course  of  time  Corpus  Christi  day  (the 
Thursday  after  Trinity  Sunday)  came  to  surpass  all  other 

^*  Keilson:.  Introduction  to  Juliita  Caesar,  in  Lake  Englieh  Classics, 
12. 


6        N  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

occasions.    The  feast  of  Corpus  Christi  was  instituted  in 
1264  by  Pope  TJrhar  IV;  after  an  intermission  it  was  re- 
instituted  in  1311;  and  very  soon  the  celebration  came  to 
represent  within  itself  all  the  splendor  and  solemnity  of  the 
Church.     "  This  feast  commemorated  a  miracle  which  was 
believed  to  have  given  ocular  evidence  of  transubstantia- 
tion,  that  is,  the  change  of  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  sacra- 
ment to  the  actual  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  and  its  char- 
acteristic feature  was,  and  in  certain  Conti Dental  cities 
is  still,  a  procession  in  which  the  Host  was  carried  ihrotif^'h 
the  streets  so  as  to  make  a  circuit  of  the  parish  or  town.''  *^ 
This  procession  became  a  sort  of  triumphal  progress  by 
which  the  Church  not  only  emphasized  her  own  power  but 
also  "  satisfied  the  perennial  inclination  of  the  people  for 
disguisings  and  festal  showq,"  ^^     In  England  esptKjially 
these  processions  assumed  a  dramatic  character,  the  differ- 
ent scenes  being  distributed  in  such  a  way  as  to  bear  some 
relation  to  the  craft  that  performed  it ;  thus  the  carpenters 
or  shipbuilders  would  be  given  the  scene  or  play  of  Noah's 
Flood,  and  the  goldsmiths  that  of  the  Adoration  of  the 
Magi.     The  aciors  stood  on  a  stage  ("  pageant  ")  moving 
about  on  wheels.    In  the  course  of  ihe  procession  a  certain 
number  of  stations  was  appointed,  at  which  the  several 
pageants  stopped  as  they  went  along,  and  on  which  the 
respective  scenes  were  performed.    Naturally  the  progress 
of  the  action  was  interrupted  as  one  pageant  rolled  away 
and  another  approached;  meanwhile  the  attention  of  the 
people  had  to  be  held  if  disorder  was  to  bo  prevented. 
'*  The  function  of  calling  the  people  to  order  was,  wherever 
possible,  intrusted  to  a  tyrant,  say  Herod,  the  murderer  of 
the  Innocents,  or  Pilate,  who,  dressed  up  grotesquely  and 
*^  Child,  Introduction,  xviii.  *•  Creizenach. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA        7 

armed  with  a  resounding  sword,  raged  about  among  the 
audience  and  imposed  silence  on  the  disturbers  of  peace."  ^^ 
5.    Cycles. — More  and  more  the  control  of  plays  and  of 
processions  such  as  those  just  remarked  passed  from  the 
Church  to  the  municipal  authorities,  and  especially  to  the 
gilds.    These  organizations  were  associations  of  men  engaged 
in  the  same  craft  and  they  had  the  advantage  of  being  able 
to  assist  financially  in  the  performance  of  productions  that 
showed  a  tendency  to  be  increasingly  expensive.     Gradu- 
ally in  ■.  r.o  of  ±^  larger  ceMicxc^  ihe  \.(jwn  took  entire 
charge  of  the  presentation,  and  a  complete  series  of  plays 
or  pageants  might  embrace  as  many  as  forty  or  fifty  scenes 
running    all   the   way   from   the    Creation   through    the 
Prophets  and  the  Life  of  Christ  to  Dromsday.    ±  our  great 
seiii     or  cycles  have  been  preserved  for  as.     These  are 
the  York  cycle,  with  forty-eight  scenes  (exclusive  of  the 
Innholder's  fragment)  ;  '*  the  Chester  cycle,  with  twenty- 
five   scenes;   the  Wakefield  cycle    (commonly   called  the 
"  Towneley  cycle  '^  from  the  family  that  owned  the  manu- 
script), with  thirty-two  scenes  or  plays,  and  the  so-called 
Coventry  cycle,  with  forty-two  scenes.    In  these  four  great 
cycles  are  to  be  four.d  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
distinct  plays,     Itie  York  cycle  is  marked  by  many  origi- 
nal icaiiires;  for  instance,  the  presentation  of  Judas  is 
especially  dramatic  and  impressive,  both  in  the  scene  in 
which  he  offers  his  services  as  betrayer  and  in  the  one  in 
which  he  begs  the  high  priest  to  take  back  the  money  he 
received  for  selling  his  Lord.     The  Chester  cycle  is  on  the 
whole  more  didactic  and  less  dramatic  than  the  others. 

^'  Creizenach. 

"  The  rest  of  the  paragraph  is  chiefly  indebted  to  Creizenach,  O.  ^ 
E.  L.,  Ill,  60-54.  ^ 


8        A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

The  Towneley  cycle  is  noteworthy  for  its  realism  and 
humor.  The  so-called  Coventry  cycle  is,  like  that  of  Ches- 
ter, especially  didactic,  and  it  introduces  several  curi- 
osities of  mediaeval  theology.  Obviously  the  York  and 
Towneley  cycles  had  most  to  do  with  the  advance  of  the 
drama.  The  performance  of  a  whole  cycle  of  plays  was  a 
serious  undertaking.  It  might  consume  several  days. 
That  of  the  Chester  group  took  three  days;  that  of  the 
York  cycle  was  completed  within  one  day,  but  the  first 
scene  began  at  half-past  four  in  the  morning.^^ 

6.  Secular  Elements. — The  outline  just  given  obviously 
gives  no  conception  of  the  very  strong  human  qualities  that 
entered  into  the  new  literary  form  and  that  did  so  much  to 
make  for  its  ultimate  success.  Some  of  these  were  ob- 
servable even  while  the  miracle  play  was  still  a  part  of  the 
church  service;  when  it  was  removed  from  the  church  to 
the  churchyard  and  to  the  streets,  extraneous  elements 
developed  space.  The  actors  began  to  capitalize  anything 
that  made  for  personal  success,  or  for  that  of  the  business 
or  gild  which  they  represented.  Especially  important  was 
an  ever-increasing  emphasis  on  the  comic  motive.  As  hu- 
man nature  lov^s  to  watch  any  kind  of  a  contest,  the  un- 
willingness of  Noah's  wife  to  enter  the  ark  was  made  more 
and  more  farcical.  Herod,  chagrined  at  the  escape  of  the 
Wise  Men,  entertained  his  audience  by  roaring  and  ranting 
and  tearing  his  beard.  Episodes  that  had  no  generic  con- 
nection with  the  main  theme  of  a  play  were  sometimes 
introduced,  the  most  noteworthy  instance  being  a  little 
farce  of  sheepstealing  in  the  Second  Shepherd's  Play, 
This  same  play  also  illustrates  the  portrayal  uf  the  life  of 
the  agricultural  laborer  of  England  in  the  Middle  Ages, 

^'  Child,  Introduction,  xxii. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA        9 

there  being  stock  complaints  of  bad  weather,  poor  crops, 
and  heavy  taxes.  Of  an  entirely  ditferent  kind  of  dra- 
matic portrayal,  and  noteworthy  as  the  representation  of 
pure  sentiment,  was  the  tender  and  pathetic  pleading  of 
Isaac  in  Abrahain  and  Isaac,  this  faintly  resembling 
little  Arthur's  entreaties  to  Hubert  in  Shakespeare's  King 
John.  Very  important  was  the  iniiuence  that  crept  into  the 
drama  from  folk-lore,  games,  and  festivals — in  short,  from 
the  everyday  customs  of  the  people.  Old  pagan  festivals 
of  Summer  and  Winter  incidentally  cultivated  many  con- 
tributing elements,  such  as  disguise  or  action,  the  pro- 
cession or  the  combat.  The  sword-dance  used  as  one  of 
its  chief  characters  the  Fool,  who  wore  the  skin  of  a  fox  or 
some  other  animal;  and  it  became  mimetic  in  character. 
It  seems  to  have  had  its  origin  in  the  conflict  between 
iWinter  and  Summer,  with  the  expulsion  of  Winter  (or 
Death)  and  the  resurrection  of  Summer  (or  Life).  "la 
several  of  the  extant  sword-dances  in  Britain  and  on  the 
Continent,  one  of  the  dancers  is,  in  different  manners,  at- 
tacked or  killed,  or,  perhaps,  merely  symbolically  sur- 
rounded or  approached,  with  the  swords ;  and  this  feature, 
which  enshrines  the  memory  of  the  sacrifice,  becomes  the 
principal  point  of  action  in  the  mummers'  or  St.  George 
plays  which  developed  from  the  sword-dance."  ^®  "  The 
invariable  incident  of  the  death  and  restoration  to  life  of 
one  of  the  characters  is  the  point  upon  which  has  been 
based  the  descent  of  this  play  from  pagan  festivals  cele- 
brating the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  year.''  Per- 
haps the  best  examples,  however,  of  the  turning  of  a  folk- 
festival  into  a  play  was  the  development  of  the  incidents  of 

"H.  H.  Child:  "Secular  Influences  on  the  Early  English  Drama,'* 
0.  E,  E,  L.,  V,  35. 


10      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

the  Ma  J  game  into  the  play  of  Robin  Hood.  The  great 
hero  of  the  ballads  seems  to  have  had  his  origin  in  France, 
where  in  some  old  plays  he  was  the  type  of  the  shepherd 
lover  and  Marion  was  his  mistress.  In  course  of  time 
Marion  became  Maid  Marian;  and  the  Mayday  king  and 
queen  became  the  central  figures  in  a  play  in  which  second- 
ary characters — Friar  Tuck,  Little  John,  the  Sheriff  of 
!Nottingham,  and  others — found  their  pla-je^-.  Thus,  a'- 
though  the  drama  ultimately  placed  emphasis  on  aris^  hi- 
eratic elements,  at  the  same  time  that  the  glorious  Arthi^r 
was  reg-nant  in  romance  and  legend,  there  arose  a  hero  of 
the  people  who  thus  early  became  the  first  real  representa- 
tive of  the  "  drama  of  democracv." 


CHAPTER  II 
MORALITY  AND  INTERLUDE 

7.  The  Temper  of  the  Middle  Ages. — Out  of  the  dim- 
ness of  tiie  JViiddlt,'.  x^ge^  n»e  ihice  great  institutions, 
Chivalry,  Eeudalism,  and  the  Church,  respectively  domi- 
nating the  social,  the  economic,  and  the  religious  life  of  the 
people.  Each  of  these,  it  will  be  observed,  ^^'as  in  its  ovni 
way  aristocratic,  and  each  subordinated  the  will  of  an  indi- 
vidual to  a  power  greater  than  itself.  Courtesy,  loyalty, 
and  faith  became  ideals  closely  interwoven,  and  in  the 
seeking  of  these  all  transitory  things  were  worthless.  Eaith 
indeed  was  ever  enjoined,  and  Augustine,  Bernard,  and 
Thomas  Aquinas  alike  emphasized  the  wonders  of  a  world 
not  seen.  Such  a  world,  however,  was  an  abstraction;  and 
more  and  more  the  simple  truths  of  life  v.  ere  expressed  in 
terms  of  allegory  snd  moralizing.  So-called  Debates  were 
popular,  the  best  being  that  between  the  Body  and  the 
Soul;  and  there  were  Dialo/rues  or  Disputations — between 
a  Christian  and  a  Jew,  a  Gooa  Man  and  the  Devil,  and 
between  the  Child  Jesus  and  the  Masters  of  the  Law. 
Besticries  drew  lessons  for  human  conduct  from  the  lives 
of  lower  animals;  hiunanity  struggled  against  the  Seven 
Deadly  Sins ;  and  even  the  language  of  love  became  stilted 
and  conventional.  As  such  influences  affected  everything 
within  reach,  they  not  unnaturally  left  their  impress  on  the 
drama. 

8.  Moralities. — Kot  so  much  out  of  as  by  the  side  of 

^1 


12      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

the  Miracle  play  in  its  later  growth  developed  the  Morality. 
We  have  already  found  in  the  definition  of  this  particular 
form  of  play  (§3)  that  it  placed  emphasis  on  a  didactic 
motive  and  that  its  characters  were  abstractions.  It  is 
difficult  to  overemphasize  the  tendency  toward  allegory; 
in  fact,  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  a  Morality  was 
an  allegory  cast  in  the  form  of  a  play.  The  form  has 
many  points  of  contact  with  early  French  literature,  with 
such  a  work,  for  instance,  as  the  Roman  de  la  Rose;  and 
it  "  originated  in  the  desire  to  bring  into  clear  relief  the 
great  lesson  of  life — the  struggle  between  good  and  evil  to 
which  every  man  is  subjected,  and  the  solution  of  which 
depends  for  every  man  upon  his  relation  to  the  powers  con- 
tending for  his  souh"  ^  The  form  became  very  popular 
in  the  course  of  the  fifteenth  century^  and  it  continued  even 
until  the  close  of  the  sixteenth.  In  the  course  of  its  later 
development  it  occasionally  incorporated  comic  elements, 
and  it  even  became  a  medium  of  controversy,  in  one  way 
or  another  reflecting  the  changes  of  church  policy  in  the 
difficult  period  from  Henry  VIII  to  the  earlier  years  of 
Elizabeth.  Something  of  this  later  development  was  repre- 
sented by  Sir  .David  Lindesay's  Satire  of  the  Three  Estates 
(1540),  an  attack  upon  the  corruption  of  the  Church  in 
the  period  of  the  Eeformation. 

The  Moralities  that  have  come  down  to  us  generally  date 
from  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  they 
show  an  interesting  transition  from  the  more  general  treat- 
ment of  the  conflict  of  the  powers  of  Good  and  Evil  for  the 
soul  of  a  man  throughout  his  whole  career  to  the  more 
particular  consideration  of  a  definite  crisis  in  his  life,  espe- 
cially that  of  approaching  death.    In  The  Castle  of  Per- 

^  Ward,  C.  E.  E,  L.,  V,  23. 


MORALITY  AND  INTERLUDE  13 

severance,  Humanum  Oenus  is  portrayed  in  the  different 
stages  of  child,  youth,  mature  man,  and  old  man.  Led 
by  his  Evil  Angel,  he  is  brought  to  Mundus,  who  gives  him 
various  gay  companions.  As  a  young  man  he  comes  under 
the  spell  of  Luxm^ia  (Licentiousness),  and  he  continues  in 
his  evil  courses  until  he  is  at  length  brought  by  Poenitentia 
to  Confessio,  who  leads  him  to  the  Castle  of  Perseverance 
(or  Constancy),  where  he  is  surrounded  by  seven  Virtues. 
The  Castle,  in  a  strong  scene,  is  attacked  by  the  powers  of 
Evil,  and  by  the  Seven  Deadly  Sins ;  but  the  Virtues  fight 
valiantly,  the  besiegers  are  driven  back,  and  the  Castle  is 
saved.  In  his  old  age,  however,  Humanum  Genus  yields  to 
the  temptations  of  Avaritia,  who  has  crept  up  to  the  walls, 
and  under  the  spell  of  the  new  voice  he  goes  forth  from  the 
Castle  that  has  been  his  fortress.  When  he  dies  his  soul  is 
saved  from  his  Evil  Angel  and  Hell  only  by  the  entreaties 
of  Mercy  and  Peace.  In  Mankhid,  a  Morality  which  is 
of  about  the  same  date  as  The  Caatle  of  Perseverance,  Man- 
kind is  portrayed  ''  in  the  world."  Warned  by  Mercy  to 
beware  of  New  Gyse,  Now-a-dayi§^  and  Nought,  he  applies 
himself  diligently  with  his  spade  at  his  work  of  tilling  the 
ground.  Mischief  comes  on  the  scene,  however,  and  Titi- 
yillus,  "  arrayed  like  a  devil  and  with  a  net  in  his  hand," 
makes  temptation  easy  by  his  theft  of  the  spade.  When 
Mercy  comes  on  the  scene  again  he  finds  that  Mankind 
has  fallen.  Repentance  and  forgiveness  follow  in  approved 
fashion.  It  will  be  observed  that  this  play,  while  not  as 
great  in  scope  as  The  Castle  of  Perseverance,  had  the 
special  merit  of  fixing  attention  upon  a  climax,  or  definite 
critical  moment  in  the  life  of  the  hero,  and  that  it  gave 
some  distinct  opportunity  for  characterization  and  humor. 
Greater  than  either  of  these  plays,  however,  was  Every- 


14      A'  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

man,  a  work  of  art  that  in  superb  fashion  combined  moral 
import  and  histrionic  effectiveness,  and  that  even  within 
recent  years  has  seen  a  noteworthy  revival  on  the  stage. 
The  date  of  the  play  is  not  fixed,  but  it  was  probably  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Everyman,  sud- 
denly called  to  a  long  journey  by  Death,  protests  that  he 
is  not  ready,  offers  a  thousand  pounds  for  some  delay  of 
the  summons,  and  begs  for  twelve  years  in  which  to  make 
clear  his  account-book.  ISTo  respite  is  given;  he  is  told, 
however,  that  he  might  take  with  him  any  of  his  friends 
who  will  bear  him  company.  Fellowship,  a  brilliant  and 
gay  character,  who  has  lightly  promised  to  stand  by  him 
even  unto  death,  refuses  to  move  when  put  to  the  test; 
Kindred  and  Cousin  are  also  unwilling  to  go  on  the  jour- 
ney; and  Riches,  a  friend  at  other  times,  scoffingly  bids 
Everyman  good-day.  Only  Good  Deeds,  who,  bound  by 
Everyman's  sins,  had  long  lain  cold  in  the  ground,  seems 
willing  to  help  him  in  his  hour  of  need.  At  this  point 
enters  Knowledge,  who  advises  Everyman  to  go  with  him 
to  the  dwelling  of  Confession.  Everyman  now  subjects 
himself  to  the  scourge  of  penance  and  puts  on  the  robe  of 
contrition.  Good  Deeds  meanwhile  has  gained  so  much 
strength  as  to  be  able  to  rise  and  join  Everyman  and 
Knowledge.  Discretion,  Strength,  Five  Wits,  and  Beauty 
are  summoned,  and  all  journey  on  together  until  they  ap- 
proach the  grave.  Beauty  refuses  to  enter ;  she  leaves,  and 
in  turn  is  followed  by  her  companions.  Knowledge  re- 
mains outside  the  grave,  and  only  Good  Deeds  accom- 
panies Everyman  to  the  hereafter.  In  the  sureness  with 
which  it  holds  itself  to  the  main  theme,  in  its  characteriza- 
tion, and  in  its  effort  to  humanize  the  abstractions  of  the  old 
Morality,  Everyman  is  incomparable. 


MORALITY  AND  INTERLUDE  15 

g.  Interludes. — "  The  advance  implied  in  the  Morality 
consisted  not  so  much  in  any  increase  in  the  vitality  of 
the  characters  or  in  the  interest  of  the  plot  (in  both  of 
which,  indeed,  there  was  usually  a  falling  off),  as  in  the 
fact  that  in  it  the  drama  had  freed  itself  from  the  bondage 
of  having  to  choose  its  subject-matter  from  one  set  of 
sources — the  Bible,  the  Apocrypha,  and  the  Lives  of  the 
Saints."  ^  Thus  arose  the  Interlude,  the  next  great  form 
that  the  drama  assumed.  The  exact  meaning  of  the  term 
has  given  rise  to  much  discussion.  It  would  seem  to  indi- 
cate a  short  play  thrust  in  between  other  things,  such  as  the 
courses  of  a  fe;ist ;  but,  whctlier  this  is  truf  or  not,  the 
Interlude  was  certainly  intended  as  a  brief  comedy,  rather 
a  farce,  designed  primarily  for  entertainment;  and,  plac- 
ing emphasis  on  ciu-rent  social  types,  such  as  a  Pardoner 
or  a  Peddler,  it  became  characterized  by  reidi^tic  and 
satirical  elements.  "  The  line  between  the  mo.'aiiiy  and 
the  interlude,  as  between  the  later  interlude  and  regular 
comedy,  is  artificial  at  best.  But  it  is  clear  that  the  vital 
principle  of  the  morality  was  its  interest  in  life  and  con- 
duct as  affecting  the  actions  of  man.  The  vital  principle 
of  the  interlude  was  also  its  interest  in  life ;  but  the  ulterior 
end  and  purpose,  guidance  to  moral  action,  had  been  lost 
and  the;  nrtiFtic  sen«?e  sp+  freo.  The  interlude  deals  with 
comedy ;  it  loves  what  is  near  and  familiar,  and  its  methods 
are  realistic."  ^ 

Typical  of  the  new  form  was  Hick  Scorner  (or  Ilycke- 
scorner)  (c.  1525),  a  play  in  which  an  old  man,  Pity,  is 
belabored  and  finally  placed  in  irons  by  three  rascals,  Eree- 
will,  Imagination,  and  Hick  Scorner,  the  first  two  of  whom 

'  Neilson,  Introduction  to  Julius  Caesar,  14. 
•  Schelling:  Elizabethan  Drama,  I,  78. 


16      A  SHOKT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

had  already  engaged  in  a  noisy  fight.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  play  a  rather  violent  wrench  forces  Freewill  and 
Imagination  to  accord  with  the  common  and  conventional 
conversion  to  a  better  life.  Such  a  play  as  this  has  little 
plot;  its  strength  rests  rather  upon  the  portrayal  of  such 
a  character  as  Imagination,  a  sharp  and  witty  villain  who 
informs  us  that  he  can  look  in  a  man's  face  and  pick  his 
purse  and  that  even  if  his  hands  were  smitten  off  he  could 
steal  with  his  teeth.  Hick  Scorner  also  has  a  distinguish- 
ing mark ;  in  a  rather  boastful  passage  he  speaks  at  length 
of  his  wide  travels  and  his  experiences  in  different  coun- 
tries. More  and  more  in  such  a  play  was  plot  sacrificed  to 
the  demand  of  the  moment.  The  Interlude  was  in  fact 
much  like  the  modern  ^^  sketch;"  largely  transitional  in 
form,  it  was  capable  of  development  or  adaptation  in  any 
direction.  In  its  later  course  the  line  between  it  and  the 
typical  Morality  was  not  always  clear ;  and  farcical,  didac- 
tic, and  controversial  elements  were  frequently  joined. 
Representative  of  some  of  these  different  or  mixed  tend- 
encies were  The  Interlude  of  the  Nature  of  the  Four  Ele- 
ments (ante  1536)  and  The  Mamage  of  Wit  and  Science 
(c.  1570),  primarily  reminiscent  of  the  schoolroom,  and 
Like  Will  to  Like  (c.  1568),  in  which  there  are  many  ele- 
ments of  low  comedy  and  buffoonery  but  little  more  em- 
phasis on  plot  than  Hick  Scorner  possessed. 

10.  John  Heywood. — Foremost  of  the  writers  of  Inter- 
ludes and  the  prime  representative  of  the  form  was  John 
Heywood  (1497  ?-1577  ?).  With  this  writer  we  are  for  the 
first  time  confronted  by  a  dramatist  of  whose  life  there  is 
documentary  evidence  and  whose  work  may  be  considered 
as  a  whole  and  in  relation  to  his  time.  He  seems  to  have 
been  interested  first  of  all  in  music.     At  an  early  age  he 


MORALITY  AND  INTERLUDE  17 

entered  the  royal  service,  probably  as  a  chorister,  and  in 
the  years  of  his  young  manhood  he  is  more  than  once  men- 
tioned as  a  "  singer  '^  and  a  "  player  of  the  virginals.''  * 
About  1540  he  was  still  working  in  such  capacities  as 
these,  though  at  a  lower  salary  than  formerly.  In  March, 
1537,  he  was  paid  40s.  for  playing  before  Princess  Mary 
an  interlude  with  his  "children"  (probably  choir  boys 
from  St.  PauFs  Cathedral). 

While  Heywood  lived  on  well  into  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 
his  dramatic  work  was  done  primarily  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIIL  It  was  his  distinctive  achievement  that  he 
'^  dispensed  with  allegorical  machinery  and  didactic  aim, 
and  gave  a  realistic  representation  of  contemporary  citizen 
types.'"  Undoubtedly  his  work  ai-e  The  Play  of  the  Wether 
(1533),  A  Play  of  Love  (1534),  The  Play  called  the 
Fonre  P.  P.  (c.  1535),  and  A  Dialoque  concerning  Witty 
and  Witless.  More  important  than  all  save  the  second  of 
these  works,  and  generally  attributed  to  him,  are  A  Mery 
Play  hetivene  the  Pardoner  and  the  Frere,  the  Curate,  and 
Neyhour  Pratte  (1533)  and  A  Mery  Play  hetwene  John 
the  Eushande,  Joh<in  Tyh  his  Wife,  and  Syr  John  the 
Freest  (1533-4).  In  The  Four  P's  we  meet  first  a  Palmer 
who  recounts  his  journeys  (recall  Hick  Scorner).  While 
he  is  still  speaking  the  Pardoner  enters  to  inform  him  that 
after  he  has  traveled  as  far  as  he  can  he  will  still  come 
home  no  wiser  than  he  was  when  he  went  forth.  The  two 
discuss  at  length  the  relative  merits  of  pilgrimages  and 
pardons,  and  the  veracity  of  palmers  and  pardoners.  To 
them  enters  the  Poticary,  and  last  of  all  comes  the  Peddler, 
light  of  heart  and  with  a  well-filled  pack  (cf.  Autolycus  in 
Shakespeare's  The  Winter's  Tale).     A  debate  now  takes 

*  See  Boas:  "Early  Comedy,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  V,  101. 


18      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

place  as  to  who  can  tell  the  bigge?t  lie,  and  the  Palmer  win:- 
at  kcst  bj  his  declaration  that  in  all  his  wanderings  he  ha^ 
never  seen  a  woman  out  of  patience.  On  such  a  slender 
thread  d.d  Hon  wood  work;  and  he  could  make  a  play  with 
only  four  characters.  The  important  thing  to  be  observed 
about  his  work  is  that  in  it  we  have  the  drama  ^'  escaping 
from  its  alliance  wdth  religion  into  the  region  of  pure 
comedy.  Here  is  no  well  planned  moral,  no  sententious 
mouthpiece  of  abstract  excellence,  no  ruin  of  sinners  and 
crownings  of  saints  .  .  .  nor  is  there  any  buffoonery."  ^ 
The  playwright  was  simply  an  artist,  working  with  no 
theory  to  advance,  but  only  w^ith  the  aim  of  setting  before 
his  audience  life  as  he  saw  it,  with  a  touch  of  satire,  but 
satire  all  the  more  pleasant  because  no  one  was  wounded  by 
the  jest. 

II.  The  Vice.— One  of  the  most  important  contribu- 
tions to  the  drama  developed  by  the  early  plays,  and  espe- 
cially by  the  morf?litv,  was  the  Vice.  One  scholar  has  said 
that  '•  this  personage  was  probably  descended  from  the 
merry  devil  Tutivillus,  who  was  taken  over  from  the  mys- 
teries into  the  moralities."  ®  i  i  is  to  be  noted,  however, 
that  a  spirit  of  mischief  was  attributed  to  all  smaller 
demorib ;  and  m  this  connection  we  might  remark  a  spirit 
of  mockery  that  frequently  characterized  the  old  drama 
and  that  was  exemplified  in  such  a  thing  as  the  so-called 
Feast  of  Fools.  In  Heywood's  Play  of  the  Wether  the 
Vice  takes  the  form  of  Mery-reporte,  a  self-assertive  rogue 
with  a  very  free  tongue ;  and  Like  Will  to  Like  opens  with 
N'ichol  Newf angle  playing  a  trick  upon  an  auditor  as  soon 
as  he  comes  upon  the  stage.  The  Vice  was  regularly  full  of 
fun,  and  he  became  important  in  the  history  of  the  drama 

^  Wynne,  83.  •  Creizenach,  C.  E.  E.  L.,  V,  63. 


MORALITY  AND  INTERLUDE  19 

when  he  bequeathed  some  of  his  characteristics  to  the  Fool 
of  more  highly  developed  comedy. 

12.  Conditions  of  Presentation. — For  the  proper  pres- 
entation of  a  play  certain  conditions  are  of  course  neces- 
sary. First  of  all  a  group  of  people  must  be  together. 
Such  a  group  might  be  in  a  school,  and  it  is  astonishing 
to  learn  of  just  how  high  an  order  of  merit  was  some  of 
the  work  of  schoolboys  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
most  important  group  of  hoys  in  England  for  the  present 
purpose  was  to  be  found  in  the  Chapel  Royal.  The  origin 
of  the  Chapel  is  obscure;  but  '  it  enierca  the  histrionic 
field  early "  and  ^''  it  was,  if  we  may  trust  the  extant 
records,  a  pioneer  in  the  production  of  some  important 
kinds  of  plays."  ^  In  the  reign  of  Edward  IV  (1461- 
1483)  eight  children  were  included  in  the  organization 
of  the  school.  Later  the  number  was  increased  to  twelve, 
but  the  Chapel  still  limited  itself  strictly  to  its  primary 
purpose  of  the  celebration  of  divine  service.  Under  the 
Tudor  sovereigns,  however,  if  not  earlier,  notable  addi- 
tions were  made  to  its  functions.  "  Both  the  gentlemen 
and  the  children  took  part,  frequently  if  not  regularly,  in 
the  pageants,  masques,  and  plays  produced  at  Christmas 
and  on  other  festal  occasions."  The  activities  of  the 
gentlemen  seem  to  have  ceased  soon  after  the  amusements 
of  the  court  took  a  more  secular  turn ;  but  the  career  of  the 
children  continued  longer.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  six- 
teenth century  no  other  company  of  people  exercised  a 
more  real  leadership  in  the  drama  than  that  of  these  chil- 
dren of  the  Chapel  Royal.  In  course  of  time  other  com- 
panies of  boys  also  helped  in  the  general  advance,  notably 

'  Manly:  "The  Children  of  the  Royal  Chapel  and  their  Masters/* 
G.  H.  E.  L.,  VI,  314, 


20      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXGLISH  DRAMA 

those  of  Paul's  and  of  Windsor,  and  of  the  Westininster 
and  Merchant  Tailors'  schools.  Such  companies  were  of 
course  removed  from  the  professional  stage;  and  a  group 
of  adult  performers  could  be  held  together  only  hj  some 
stable  and  reliable  patronage.  We  have  seen  that  as  far 
back  as  the  period  of  the  miracle  plays  the  responsibility 
for  a  production  had  to  be  assumed  by  a  town,  or  at  least 
divided  by  the  towi  among  different  gilds.  More  and  more 
it  became  the  custom  for  a  nobleman  to  keep  a  group  of 
players  under  his  special  patronage.  Interludes  were  gen- 
erally given  by  professional  entertainers  who  were  in  the 
service  of  persons  of  rank  or  who  traveled  from  town  to 
town,  and  in  the  circumstances  of  their  presentation  were 
to  be  found  many  of  the  conditions  which  gave  rise  to 
modem  comedy  and  to  the  traveling  company. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE 

13.  Spirit  of  the  Age. — The  great  outburst  of  the  Eng- 
lish Drama  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  (1558-1603)  is  to 
be  explained  only  by  the  larger  forces  at  work  in  English 
literature  and  life.  The  reign  of  Henry  VII  had  sig- 
nalized an  era  of  unnnralleled  dis^r^very,  and  to  a  national 
imagination  that  roamed  beyond  the  seas  was  now  added  all 
"the  culture  of  the  Eenaissance.  Improvements  took  place 
in  manners  and  customs ;  a  more  tolerant  temper  was  mani- 
fest in  religrion ;  and  a  healthy  spirit  of  the  enjoyment  of 
life  was  everywhere.  Almost  suddenly  England's  dawning 
greatness  was  seen  and  felt ;  Catholic  and  Protestant  alike 
paid  homage  to  the  Queen ;  and  the  Armada  sent  to  break 
the  spirit  of  the  country  was  shattered  in  1588.  In  such 
different  ways  was  cultivated  the  feeling  of  nationality. 
The  common  man  sank  himself  in  the  general  ideal — in 
the  glory  of  the  sovereign;  there  developed  an  interest  in 
the  heroes  of  the  past ;  and  the  form  of  literature  demanded 
was  one  that  would  respond  to  the  bravado  and  daring  of 
the  day — one  that  emphasized  action.  Thus  a  quickened 
jmagination^^  broadening  culture,  improved  living,  ^condi- 
tions, and- .patriotic  achievement  all  imited^  to  ^all  into 
^^*^iMj.^-®-.g?6St  flowenng7of  tlie  Elizabethan  Drama. 

14.  Elements  Contributing  to  the  Drama. — So  far  as 
literature  and  the  stage  were  concerned,  three  powerful 

21 


22      A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

impulses  were  felt.^  "  The  first  of  these,  the  humanistic  or 
^  classical '  impulse,  is  foreign  and  purely  scholarly.  The 
second,  the  '  romantic '  impulse,  is  inherent  in  dramatic 
inspiration,  but  in  our  drama  received  a  special  form  and 
direction  from  foreign  sources.  The  third,  the  impulse 
towards  realism,  is  inherent,  and  might  at  any  time  become 
dominant  in  particular  works,  or  the  works  of  particular 
men."  "  The  humanistic,  or  classical,  impulse  took  its  rise 
in  the  classical  plays  of  the  universities  and  the  schools, 
•which  included  both  plays  written  in  Latin  and  English 
plays  written  on  Latin  models.  Humanism, — the  study  of 
the  classic  to  apply  its  lessons  to  problems  of  the  present, 
which  formed  so  important  a  part  of  the  complex  move- 
ment called  the  Kenaissance — affected  the  drama,  as  it 
affected  all  other  types  of  literature.  In  the  universities 
and  the  schools,  plays  were  written  on  the  model  of  the 
Roman  play^vrights,  Plautus  and  Seneca,  who  were 
adopted  as  exemplars  of  comedy  and  tragedy  respect- 
ively." ^  The  socond  impulse,  that  of  the  spirit  of  to- 
iiiance.  is  not  less  imponaiit,  as  it  gave  ireest  play  to  the 
imagination.  It  was  frpquently  innate  in  the  dramatist, 
but  derived  sj)ecial  inspiration  from  Italian  sources — 
from  lyrics  and  pastorals  and  allegories  as  well  as  collec 
tions  of  tales.  Above  any  details  oi  texts  or  sources,  how- 
eve  r,  was  the  great  lesson  of  artistic  independence  that  the 
spirit  taught  the  Elizabethans.  Greene  and  Marlow© 
among  Shakespeare's  earlier  contemporaries,  Beaumont 
and  Fletcher  among  the  later,  and  the  great  master  him- 

*  They  have  frequently  been  dealt  with,  but  in  brief  compaas 
hardly  ever  better  than  in  Prof.  C.  G.  Child's  Introduction  previously 
cited. 

'  C.  G.  Child,  Introduction,  xxxix. 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE  23 

self,  felt  the  impulse  bpckoninp:  them  on  to  high  ideals  and 
loftv  fi'^hievement,  finally  there  was  the  realistic  influ- 
ence, which  of  course  placed  emphasis  primarily  on  Eng- 
lish tradition  and  which  had  been  so  well  exem-pU-R^d  in 
the  iTiterludes  of  John  Hoywood.  Such  dominating  tend- 
encies as  these  that  have  been  remarked  can  not  always  be 
clearly  delimited ;  together,  however,  they  were  to  rear  the 
great  edifice  of  the  English  Drama. 

15.  First  Regular  Comedies. — In  view  of  the  success 
of  the  interlude  as  a  form  of  entertainment,  it  was  but 
natural  that  comedy  should  develop  faster  than  tragedy. 
Especially  potent  vv'as  the  influence  of  P)autus.  As  early 
as  1627  the  boys  of  St.  Paul  s  School  performed  before 
Cardinal  Wolsey  a  play  by  this  dramatist;  the  students 
at  Eton  and  Westminster  also  cultivated  his  works  under 
the  direction  of  their  masters;  and  sometimes  perform- 
ances took  place  before  the  Queen.  "  The  custom  of  giving 
plays  at  great  public  schools  and  universities  was  a  very 
old  one,  though  definite  information  is  almost  entirely 
lacking  until  the  performance  of  the  Dido  of  Eightwise 
between  1522  and  1582,  We  also  know  that  in  1525  a 
play  was  presented  by  the  students  of  Eton  College.  The 
practice  continued  uninterruptedly  till  the  time  of  the 
Commonwealth  and,  together  with  disputations,  formed 
the  chief  method  of  entertaining  royalty  at  the  universities. 
Elizabeth  seems  to  have  been  particularly  fond  of  these 
representations."  ^ 

One  of  the  first  English  dramatic  pieces  which  show 
unmistakably  the  influence  of  Latin  comedy  is  the  inter- 
lude, Calisto  and  Melihoea,  published  about  1530.  TJipt- 
sites  and  Jack  Juggler  also  are  indebted  to  the  same  source, 

•  Wallace:  'ilie  Hirthe  of  Hercules,  39. 


24     A  SHORT  HISTORY.  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

though  in  the  case  of  Thersites  the  contribution  was  more 
directly  French.  This  play  was  written  in  1537.  It  con- 
sists of  a  number  of  loosely  connected  scenes  illustrative 
of  the  character  of  the  hero,  who  is  a  ridiculous  braggart. 
The  farce  of  Jach  Juggler  in  its  prologue  confesses  itself 
an  unambitious  adaptation  of  the  Amphitruo  of  Plautus, 
but  there  is  very  little  similarity  between  it  and  the  Latin 
play  if  the  two  are  considered  as  wholes. 

The  step  of  writing  a  regular  English  comedy  on  clas- 
sical lines  was  taken  by  Nicholas  Udall.  This  dramatist, 
born  in  Hampshire  in  1505,  was  educated  at  Winchester 
and  at  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford ;  he  was  headmaster 
at  Eton  from  1534  to  1541,  and  at  Westminster  from  1553 
or  1554  until  his  death  in  1556.  He  was  a  practical 
teacher;  he  prepared  for  his  pupils  a  handbook  for  the 
study  of  Latin ;  and  he  was  complimented  by  the  Queen  for 
his  diligence  in  presenting  before  her  certain  dialogues 
and  interludes.  He  is  primarily  remembered  for  Balpk 
Roister  Doister  (1553  ?),  a  play  based  on  the  Miles  Glori- 
osus  of  Plautus.  The  story  is  that  of  the  wooing  by  a  love- 
sick and  confident  boaster,  Ralph  Roister  Doister,  of  Dame 
Christian  Custance,  whose  heart  has  already  been  given  to 
Gawin  Goodluck,  a  merchant  whose  business  keeps  him 
much  away  at  sea.  The  complicating  force  in  the  play 
is  Merrygreek,  a  parasite,  who  has  many  marks  of  the  old 
Vice.  More  and  more  as  the  action  advances  this  char- 
acter proves  Ralph  Roister  Doister  to  be  a  gull.  Ralph 
first  sends  to  Dame  Custance  an  old  nurse  of  hers  with  a 
letter,  then  one  of  his  own  servants  with  a  ring  and  token^ 
and  finally  he  sends  Merrygreek,  who  is  to  bring  back  an 
answer  indicating  the  Dame's  willingness  to  be  "  wedded 
on  Sunday  next."    Merrygreek,  by  changing  the  punctua- 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE  25 

tion,  misreads  Kalph's  letter  to  Dame  Custanee;  and  fur- 
ther complications  arise  when  a  servant,  Sim  Suresby, 
sent  by  Goodluck,  misimderstands  the  relations  between 
Ealph  and  the  Dame  and  replies  rather  curtly  when  the 
latter  speaks  of  sending  a  token  to  his  master.  An  at- 
tempt to  carry  off  the  lady  by  force,  suggested  to  Kalph  by 
Merrygreek,  results  in  the  boaster's  being  completely 
routed  by  the  Dame's  maidservants  with  scuttles  and 
brooms.  Goodluck  himself  at  length  returns,  however; 
there  are  explanations  all  around ;  and  Ealph  and  Merry- 
greek  join  in  the  wedding  festivities.  There  is  much  in- 
cidental comedy  in  the  play.  Among  other  things  there 
is  a  mock  dirge  when  Ralph  protests  that  his  heart  is 
broken ;  and  the  maids  of  the  Dame,  with  their  gay  spirits 
and  love  of  song,  add  materially  to  the  whole.  The  chief 
characters  moreover  are  drawn  with  considerable  care,  and 
throughout  there  is  evidence  of  knowledge  of  the  bases  of 
comic  appeal.  Ralph  Roister  Bolster  is  thus  not  only 
interesting  in  itself  but  has  imique  importance  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  English  drama. 

At  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  probably  not  long  after 
1550,  was  acted  another  comedy,  rather  a  farce,  which 
even  more  than  Ralph  Roister  Bolster  dealt  with  the  hu- 
mors and  foibles  of  lower  English  life.  This  was  Gammer 
Gurtons  Needle,  "made  by  Mr.  S.  Mr  of  Art,"  which 
phrase  has  recently  been  interpreted  as  applying  to  Wil- 
liam Stevenson,  who  at  the  time  seems  to  have  had  much 
to  do  with  the  production  of  plays  at  Cambridge.  ''  Gam- 
mer GurtoThS  Needle  is  of  enduring  interest  as  the  earliest 
university  play  in  English  which  has  come  down  to  us.  At 
first  sight  it  shows  little  trace  of  scholarly  influences.  The 
'  fourteener '  in  which  it  is  mainly  written  is  a  rough 


26      A  SHORT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

and  tum"ble  meter;  and  tlie  dialogue,  olteu  coarse  in  strain, 
is,  as  a  wiioie,  in  that  southwestern  dialect  which  became 
the  conventional  form  of  rustic  r^peech  on  the  Elizabethan 
stage.  The  plot  turns  on  the  complications  produced  in  a 
small  village  society  by  the  loss  of  the  gammer's  needle,  and 
the  characters  are  typically  English,  including  Diccon,  who 
combines  the  roles  of  a  Vice  and  a  vagrant  Tom  of  Bedlam. 
But,  on  closer  examination,  the  effect  of  classical  models  is 
seen.  The  comedy  is  divided  into  acts  and  scenes,  and 
the  plot  has  a  real  organic  unity.  The  parts  played  by  the 
different  personages  in  the  village  community,  from  '  Mas- 
ter Bailey '  and  the  curate  downward,  are  neatly  discrimi- 
nated. The  triumph  of  pastoral  convention  had  not  yet 
blurred  for  English  humanists  the  outlines  of  genuine 
English  country  life.''  * 

An  important  development  in  another  direction  was  that 
of  plays  with  a  didactic  or  satirical  tendency.  Some  of 
these  were  neo-classical  rather  than  strictly  classical  in 
tone,  and  more  than  one  used  in  some  way  the  theme  of  the 
Prodigal  Son.  In  Nice  Wanton  (c,  1560)  is  portrayed 
the  downward  career  of  two  spoiler!  children  and  the  re- 
morse of  their  mother.  Thomas  Ingeland's  The  I>is- 
ohedient  Child,  printed  in  1560,  but  probably  written  some 
years  before,  and  largely  adapted  from  an  earlier  original 
in  Latin,  shows  some  connection  with  the  Continent,  where 
the  fashion  of  presenting  biblical  stories  in  classical  form 
had  become  popular.  It  "  is  one  of  the  earliest  English 
plays  undoubtedly  modeled  after  the  Christian  drama  of 
the  German  humanists.  .  .  .  There  is  no  division  into 
acts  and  scenes,  but  the  play  shows  a  real  advance  in 
structural  art, — a  juster  conception  of  plot  as  a  progres- 

*r.  S.  Boas;  "JJuiyersity  Plajs/'  C.  H.  E.  L.,  VI,  334. 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE  27 

sively  developing  unity."  ^  To  the  same  general  class 
(with  influence  from  the  Italian,  or  it  may  be  from  the 
Dutch  humanists  with  whom  he  was  possibly  in  contact) 
belongs  G*:  ">ro^e  Gascoirne's  The  Glass  of  Governnuent 
(1575).  In  this  piay  the  prodigal  and  the  virtuous  son 
appear  in  double  guise.  Two  fathers  are  introduced,  each 
with  two  sons,  the  elder  in  each  case  being  very  bad  and 
the  younger  very  good.  All  four  are  given  in  charge  of  a 
schoolmaster,  who  at  great  length  instructs  them  in  their 
duties.  The  older  boys  spend  their  time  with  coarse  asso- 
ciates and  rebel  against  their  teacher,  while  the  younger 
ones  are  diligent  at  their  tasks.  The  younger  ones  grow 
to  distinction  and  renown,  while  the  older  ones  are  finally 
saved  from  the  consequences  of  their  misdeeds  only  on  the 
plea  of  their  old  schoolmaster.  This  play  is  of  course 
mechanical  in  its  moral  scheme:  at  the  same  time  ito  style 
and  striT'-'^ure  pre  mfere^fvig,  and  the  prose  used  throughout 
makes  the  dialogue  realistic.  In  other  directions  Gas- 
coigne  was  Ijss  artificial.  His  Supposes  (1566),  adapted 
from  Ariosto,  further  emphasizes  prose  as  a  comic  medium, 
has  the  importance  of  presenting  in  English  for  the  first 
time  a  characteristic  Italian  comedy  of  intrigue,  and  in 
theme  has  much  affinity  with  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew, 
for  which  play  by  Shakespeare  it  was  really  the  ultimate 
English  source. 

Interesting  as  representing  the  fusion  of  clasrical  and 
native  elements  w^as  Damon  and  Pithms,  by  Eiehard  Ed- 
ward?, a  "  tragical  comedy  ''  presentea  before  the  Queen  in 
156i.  The  plot  is  drawn  from  the  annals  of  Syracuse, 
and  the  loyalty  of  the  two  friends  to  each  other  is  weR 
portrayed.    The  Syracusan  court  is  really  the  Elizabethan, 

«  Wallace,  51. 


28     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

and  some  of  the  characters,  notably  Grim  tlie  collier,  are 
distinctly  English.  "  Though  lacking  in  metrical  charm 
or  verbal  felicity,  Daimn  and  Pithias  has  merits  which  go 
some  way  towards  accounting  for  the  acclaim  with  which, 
as  contemporary  allusions  show,  it  was  received ;  and  the 
play  possesses  an  importance  of  its  own  in  the  development 
of  romantic  drama  from  a  combination  of  forces  and  ma- 
terials new  and  old."  ® 

i6.  First  Regular  Tragedies. — The  beginnings  of  regu- 
lar tragedy  in  English  show  on  every  hand  interesting  con- 
nections with  the  older  dramatic  forms  of  morality  and 
interlude,  and  with  the  chronicle  play,  which  last  is  so 
important  as  to  demand  further  and  special  consideration. 
Stronger  perhaps  than  any  other  influence  was  that  of 
Seneca.  Two  plays  might  be  remarked  as  representative 
of  the  transition  from  the  earlier  forms  to  regular  tragedy. 

One  of  these  was  the  "  lamentable  tragedy  of  Camhv^es  '** 
(not  later  than  1569),  telling  the  story  of  Cambises,  King 
of  Persia  '^  from  the  beginning  of  his  kingdom  unto  his 
death;  his  one  good  deed  of  execution;  after  that,  many 
wicked  deeds  and  tyrannous  murders  committed  by  and 
through  him,  and  last  of  all,  his  odious  death  by  God's 
justice  appointed."  The  author  of  this  production  was 
Thomas  Preston,  fellow  of  King's  College,  Cambridge, 
and  aftei'wards  master  of  Trinity  Hall.  Cambises  sets  out 
upon  his  conquests,  returns  and  executes  his  deputy  Si- 
samnes,  shoots  the  young  son  of  the  counselor  Praxaspes ; 
murders  his  own  brother  Smirdis;  marries,  against  her 
own  wish  and  the  law  of  the  Church,  his  cousin,  only  to 
execute  her  when  she  reproaches  him  for  his  crimes ;  and 
finally  dies  accidentally  pierced  by  his  own  sword.    Most 

•  F.  S.  Boas:  "  Early  English  Comedy,"  in  C.  H.  E.  L.,  V,  133-34. 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE  29 

of  these  horrors  take  place  on  the  stage,  and  crime  follows 
crime  in  mechanical  or  melodramatic  fashion,  so  much  so 
that  Shakespeare  in  /  Henry  IV  (II,  4)  refers  to  "  King 
Oambyses'  vein  "  as  something  proverbial  for  rant.  At 
the  same  time  there  is  occasionally  heard  the  voice  of 
genuine  feeling,  as  in  the  farewell  of  Praxaspes  to  his  little 
son,  and  the  play  as  a  whole  has  the  merit  of  clear  con- 
etruction.  There  are  many  signs  of  the  survival  of  the  old 
morality;  the  Vice  Ambidexter  is  ingeniously  woven  into 
the  play  (he  predicts  the  death  of  Cambises),  and  such 
figures  as  Huf  and  Ruf  furnish  the  low  comedy.  Another 
play  of  the  transition  was  the  "  tragical  comedy "  of 
^Appius  and  Virg^lnia,  by  one  E.  B.  (1563),  on  a  theme 
iwhich  was  attractive  to  English  dramatists  from  the  days 
of  the  beginning  of  tragedy  down  to  those  of  James  Sheri- 
dan Knowles  in  the  nineteenth  century.  In  this  we  find 
portrayed  the  domestic  happiness  of  Virginius  and  his 
wife  and  daughter,  all  of  which  is  marred  by  the  passion 
of  Appius.  There  are  numerous  allegorical  personages  in 
the  play,  but  they  have  little  important  part  in  the  action. 
Haphazard  the  Vice  makes  mischief,  and  there  are  other 
such  characters  as  Doctrine,  Memory,  Reward,  and  Fame, 
who  inscribe  the  "  honor  of  Virginia's  name."  "  The 
Epilogue  prays  '  God  save  the  Queen,'  but  makes  no  refer- 
ence to  what  later  Elizabethan  poets  would  have  joyed  to 
find  an  occasion  of  celebrating,  her  renown  for  the  virtue 
which  is  the  subject  of  the  play."  ^  Appius  and  Virginia 
has  the  merit  of  simplicity  of  theme,  but  it  exhibits  little 
genuine  tragic  emotion,  and  places  most  exaggerated  em- 
phasis on  rant  and  alliteration,  as  in  the  line,  "  O  curst 
and  cruel  cankered  churl,  O  carl  unnatural." 
T  Ward:  English  Dramatic  Literature,  I,  205. 


30   A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Generally  contemporary  with  both  of  these  productions 
was  Gorhoduc  (15fi2),  commonly  known  as  the  first  Eng- 
lish tragedy.  This  ]Dlay  was  first  acterl  h^fore  Queen 
Elizabetl],  ar,*^  its  authors  were  Thomas  JSiorton  and 
Thomas  Sackville,  ISTorton  seeming  to  be  in  the  uain  re- 
sponsible for  the  first  three  acts  and  Sackville  (after- 
wards Lord  Buckhurst  and  the  Earl  of  Dorset)  for  the 
others.  The  Argument  furnishes  the  theme  for  the  play: 
"  Gorhoduc,  King  of  Brittaine,  diuided  his  realme  in  his 
lifetime  to  his  sonnes,  Ferrex  and  Porrex ;  the  sonnes  fell 
to  discention;  the  youger  killed  the  elder;  the  mother, 
that  more  dearely  loued  the  elder,  for  revenge  killed  the 
younger;  the  people  moved  with  the  crueltie  of  the  fact, 
rose  in  rebellion  and  slew  both  father  and  mother;  the 
nobilitie  assembled  and  most  terribly  destroyed  the  rebels ; 
and  afterwards,  for  want  of  issue  of  the  prince,  whereby 
the  succession  of  the  crowne  became  uncertain,  they  fell  to 
ciuill  warre,  in  which  both  they  and  many  of  their  issues 
were  slaine,  and  the  land  for  a  long  time  almost  desolate 
and  miserably  wasted."  Gorhoduc  was  built  primarily 
upon  the  model  of  Senecan  tragedy,  and  yet  it  exhibits 
some  very  distinct  differences  from  classical  originals.  In 
fact,  because  of  what  it  does  and  what  it  does  not  do,  the 
play  might  serve  as  the  occasion  of  long  discussion  as  to  the 
theories  of  dramatic  construction.  Although  the  plot  has 
wdth  classic  models  the  affinity  just  remarked,  its  immedi- 
ate source  Was  lU  English  legend,  in  the  work  of  Ueoiirey 
of  Monmouth.  The  play  h-ild  t:  the  idea  of  division  into 
^ve  auio,  and  of  a  chorus  (in  this  case  of  "  four  ancient 
and  sage  men  of  Britain")  ;  and,  while  it  placed  no  em- 
phasis on  the  unities,  its  deeds  of  violence  are  reported  by 
messengers  or  witnesses  rather  than  definitely  set  forth  in 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE  31 

action.  Characterization  is  not  especially  strong,  and 
speeches  are  long  and  argumentative.  ^'  Everywhere  hur- 
ried action  and  unreasoning  instinct  give  place  to  delibera- 
tion and  debate.  Between  this  play  and  its  predecessors 
no  change  can  be  more  sweeping  or  more  abrupt.  In  an 
instant,  as  it  were,  we  pass  from  the  unpolished  Camhyses, 
savage  and  reeking  with  blood,  to  the  equally  violent  events 
of  GorboduCj  cold  beneath  a  formal  restraint.  Had  this 
severe  discipline  of  the  emotion  been  accepted  as  forever 
binding  upon  the  tragic  stage  Elizabethan  drama  "would 
have  been  forgotten.  Conscious  that  the  banishment  of 
action  from  the  stage,  while  natural  enough  in  Greece, 
must  meet  with  an  overwhelming  resistance  from  the  popu- 
lar custom  in  England,  the  authors  invented  a  compromise. 
■Before  each  act  they  provided  a  symbolical  Dumb  Show 
:which,  by  its  external  position,  infringed  no  classical  law, 
yet  satisfied  the  demand  of  an  English  audience  for  real 
and  melodramatic  spectacles."  ^  They  also  excluded  comic 
matter,  and  thus  in  one  way  or  another  they  cultivated 
a  dignity  that  w^ould  otherwise  have  been  lost. 

After  Gorhoduc  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  produc- 
tions belonging  to  the  early  history  of  English  tragedy  was 
The  Misfortunes  of  Arthur  (15&7),  mainly  by  I'homas 
Hughes,  an  eniertainment  by  ^^  the  Gentlemen  of  Gray's 
jinn  "  presented  before  the  Queen  "  the  twenty-eighth  day 
of  Eebruary  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  her  Majesty's  most 
happy  reign."  Hughes  also  went  back  to  the  sources  of 
early  English  legend,  to  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  and 
Malory ;  and  the  play  deals  with  the  love  of  Mordred,  the 
incestuous  son  of  Arthur,  for  the  Queen  Guenevora,  with 
the  battle  between  father  and  son  on  Arthur's  return  from 

•  Wynne:  The  Qroicth  of  English  Drama,  103. 


32     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

France,  and  the  final  engagement  in  Cornwall,  -with  the 
death  of  Mordred  and  the  wounding  and  suggested  de- 
parture of  Arthur.  Elank  verse  is  used,  as  in  Gorboduc, 
but  the  style  is  sententious  and  argumentative,  and  again, 
in  accordance  with  the  Greek  tradition,  action  is  rigidly 
excluded  from  the  play.  Interesting  for  its  literary  con- 
nections, however,  is  the  Ghost,  in  this  case  that  of  Gorlois, 
the  first  husband  of  Arthur's  mother,  Igerna — Gorlois, 
Duke  of  Cornwall,  who  had  so  foully  been  slain  by  Uther 
Pendragon,  Arthur's  father. 

17.  Chronicle  Plays.— In  one  way  or  another  in  this 
developing  period  of  the  drama  there  was  exhibited  an 
eagerness  on  the  part  of  Englishmen  to  hear  about  their 
country's  past,  and  such  interest  was  greatly  stimulated 
by  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada  in  1588.  Thus^arose 
the  Chronicle  Play.  The  ultimate  origins  of  this  might 
carry  us  back  to  the  period  of  the  old  miracle  plays  and 
the  ballads,  and  in  later  years  there  were  close  connections 
with  moralities.  Interest  attaches  to  Kynge  J  oh  an,  by 
Bishop  Bale,  produced  about  1538.  This  play  is  a  defiance 
of  the  Pope  and  of  the  system  which  he  represents;  it  at 
one  time  likens  King  John  to  a  Moses  leading  his  people 
through  the  wilderness,  and  in  the  figure  of  Imperial 
Majesty  recalls  the  age  of  controversy  in  which  it  was 
produced  by  strongly  suggesting  the  person  of  Henry  VIII. 
Sedition,  who  is  the  sole  comic  character,  and  the  one  who 
does  most  to  further  the  action  of  the  drama,  is  simply  the 
old  Vice  come  again;  the  play  as  a  whole  is  quite  lacking 
in  the  historical  spirit ;  and  in  general  its  tone  and  method 
are  such  as  to  place  it  with  the  moralities  rather  than  with 
the  strict  Chronicle  Plays.  More  important  is  Gorhoduc, 
"  the  earliest  of  a  long  list  of  English  dramas  which  laid 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE  33 

under  contribution  those  legendary  and  pseudo-historical 
materials  of  the  early  chronicles  of  Britain  which  emanated 
from  the  fertile  brain  of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth.  The 
relation  of  the  earliest  English  tragedy  to  the  English 
Chronicle  Play  is  sufficiently  defined  in  the  recognition 
of  this  fact."  ®  In  the  earlier  years  of  Elizabeth  moreover 
great  impetus  to  production  was  furnished  by  the  work  of 
the  professional  historians,  who  responded  abundantly  to 
the  eager  demand  for  books  dealing  with  England's  story. 
Of  surpassing  importance  was  the  work  of  Raphael  Holin- 
shed,  whose  Chronicles  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
produced  in  1577,  became  the  great  storehouse  of  material 
for  the  historical  plays  of  Shakespeare  as  well  as  those  of 
his  contemporaries.^**  In  1579  also,  at  Cambridge,  ap- 
peared a  play  exactly  in  the  field  of  the  Chronicle  in 
Bichardus  Tertius  Tragedia  of  Thomas  Legge,  Master  of 
Caius  College  and  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University. 
This  production,  which  was  in  Latin,  was  greatly  praised, 
and  not  unnaturally  it  had  influence  on  such  university 
men  as  Marlowe  and  Peele.  It  is  "  the  earliest  recorded 
drama  dealing  with  a  subject  derived  from  the  actual  his- 
tory of  England."  By  1590  had  very  probably  appeared 
The  Famous  Victories  of  Henry  V,  The  Troublesome 
Reign  of  King  John,  and  The  True  Chronicle  History  of, 
EHng  Leir  and  his  Three  Daughters,  Gonorill,  Bagan, 
Cordelia,  to  all  of  which  Shakespeare  was  indebted.  By 
this  time,  however,  not  only  Shakespeare  himself,  but  Mar- 
lowe, Peele,  and  others,  were  using  the  Chronicle  as  a 

•  Schelling:  The  English  Chronicle  Play,  20. 

**A  slight  influence,  however,  aa  upon  Shakespeare's  Richard  II, 
came  from  Froiasart.  See  Smith:  Froissart  and  the  English  Chrow* 
cle  Play. 


34     A'  SHORT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

regular  dramatic  medium  and  the  great  period  of  its  popu- 
larity had  begun. 

i8.  First  Theatres. — At  this  point  it  is  well  to  see 
under  just  what  conditions  plays  were  actually  produced 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  Eliza- 
bethan theatre  found  its  home  first  6i  all  in  the  yards  of 
tJio  inns  of  London.  Tliese  inns  were  most  frequently 
built  in  the  form  of  a  quadrangle  surrounding  an  open 
court.  When  a  play  was  to  be  performed  a  platform  that 
was  to  serve  as  a  stage  was  built  out  into  the  yard,  and  in 
the  galleries  or  balconies  round  about  the  spectators  of  the 
better  class  would  sit.  aSTear  the  platform  would  stand 
those  who  were  admitted  for  the  cheapest  fee  and  who 
would  correspond  most  nearly  to  those  who  occupy  the 
"  bleachers  "  at  a  modern  baseball  game  or  the  top  gallery 
in  a  present-day  theatre.  These  people  became  an  impor- 
tant element  in  the  development  of  the  Elizabethan  drama. 
Most  of  the  coarse  jokes  were  directed  at  them,  and  when 
we  remember  this  we  see  all  the  more  the  point  of  Hamlet's 
reference  to  the  "  groundlings,"  "'  who  for  the  most  part 
are  capable  of  nothing  but  inexplicable  dumbshows  and 
noise."  Naturally  there  was  no  covering  to  the  yard;  so 
that  if  a  shower  came  up  the  sj^ectators  who  were  standing 
near  the  2:)latform  might  be  sprinkled,  while  those  in  the 
galleries  would  be  protected.  The  dandies  or  gallants  of 
the  period  would  sometimes  occupy  special  seats  on  the 
sides  of  the  platform  or  stage  proper,  where  they  would 
"  drink  tobacco "  and  sometimes  rather  noisily  express 
their  opinion  of  the  actors  or  the  performance.  The  rear 
of  the  platform  was  commonly  just  below  a  gallery,  which 
of  course  might  serve  all  the  more  easily  as  a  balcony  or 
upper  window.    The  innyard  detennined  the  general  style 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE  35 

of  the  Elizabethan  theatre.  Keceiving  from  the  bear-baiting 
ring^  however,  a  suggestion  for  better  acoustic  quality,  the 
buildings  that  were  first  specially  constructed  for  plays 
were  circular  rather  than  rectangular  in  shape ;  but  through- 
out the  period  of  the  Elizabethan  drama  they  remained 
open  to  the  sky.  *'  In  1575  London  had  no  theatres;  that 
is,  no  buildings  especially  designed  for  the  acting  of  plays. 
By  1600  there  were  at  least  six,  among  which  were  some 
so  large  .iiid  beauj...LL  cia  lu  arouse  the  unqualified  admira- 
tion of  travelers  from  the  continent.''  ^^  ''  The  opposition 
to  playing  in  the  city  led  to  the  erection,  in  1576, 
of  the  first  Elizabethan  playhouse,  ine  Theater.  It  was 
built  by  James  Burbage,  formerly  a  joiner  by  trade,  and  a 
member  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester's  company,"  just  outside 
the  city  on  the  north  in  Einsbury  fields,  "  an  open  holiday 
ground  where  archery,  fencing,  sword-play  and  other 
sports  were  practised,  f^nd  where  the  +7'qined  bands 
drilled."  ^^  Not  far  away,  and  very  probably  in  1577, 
was  erected  a  second  playhouse,  the  Curtain,  so  called  from 
Curtain  close,  "  a  meadow  once  in  the  possession  of  the 
priory  on  which,  later,  was  built  a  house  called  Curtain 
house."  Next  in  order  was  the  Eose,  constructed  by 
Philip  Henslowe,  a  well-known  theatrical  manager,  on  the 
Surrey  side  of  the  Thames,  possibly  as  early  as  1587,  but 
certainly  not  later  than  1592.  In  1596,  working  over  a 
collection  of  rooms  (including  "seven  great  upper  rooms") 
in  the  old  precinct  of  the  "  Blackfriars  preachers,"  or- 
Dominican  monks,  James  Burbage  opened  an  indoor  or 

*^  W.  H.  Durham,  in  MacCracken,  Pierce,  and  Durham:  An  Intro' 
duction  to  Shakespeare,  35. 

"Rarold  Child:  "The  Elizabethan  Theatre,"  in  C.  H,  E.  L.,  VI, 
?82. 


36     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAl^IA 

*^  private  "  playhouse,  spending  on  it  a  larger  sum  than  had 
hitherto  been  spent  on  any  playhouse  in  London.  The 
term  ^^  private  "  does  not  seem  to  imply  that  the  public 
was  excluded ;  but  "  in  making  up  his  mind  to  establish  a 
playhouse,  in  defiance  of  the  law,  within  the  city  walls, 
Burbage  must  have  counted  for  support  less  on  the  people 
than  on  the  nobility.'^  ^^  In  ^November,  1596,  the  people 
in  the  vicinity  petitioned  against  the  establishment  of  a 
playhouse  in  their  midst,  but  ineffectually,  and,  in  spite  of 
other  troubles,  the  Blackfriars  continued  to  be  one  of  the 
best-known  homes  of  the  English  drama  down  to  1642. 
The  suitability  of  the  Surrey  side  of  the  Thames,  com- 
monly called  the  Bankside,  as  a  place  for  the  location  of 
playhouses  is  especially  attested  by  the  removal  thither  of 
the  Theater  in  the  winter  of  1598-99.  The  Burbage  heirs, 
seemingly  unwilling  to  pay  an  increased  rental  when  their 
old  lease  expired,  tore  down  the  building,  and  erected  it 
again  on  the  Bankside,  this  time  calling  it  the  Globe,  which 
was  in  the  next  few  years  to  become  the  most  famous  of  all 
the  London  theatres.  Other  playhouses  of  the  period  were 
the  Swan,  the  Whitef riars,  and  Newington  Butts ;  and  in 
1600  Henslowe  erected  the  Fortune.  *'  The  situation  of 
the  Fortune  outside  Cripplegate,  although  a  considerable 
distance  west  of  the  Curtain,  was,  roughly,  that  of  the 
earlier  theatres,  the  northern  suburbs  of  the  city."  ^* 

ig.  Stage  and  Setting. — We  have  already  observed  that 
the  stage  in  one  of  these  theatres  was  primarily  a  plat- 

»•  H.  Child,  C.  E.  E.  L.,  VI,  289. 

**  Durham  in  MacCracken,  Pierce,  and  Durham:  An  Introduction 
to  Shakespeare,  38.  In  general  see  also  Neilson  and  Thorndike: 
The  Facts  about  Shakespeare,  Chapter  VI.  Note  also  that  there 
were  really  two  Blackfriars  theatres,  distinguished  as  Burbage  or 
Farrant.    See  Thorndike:  Shakespeare's  Theater,  62-63. 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE  S"? 

form  built  out  into  the  yard.  At  the  Fortune  this  plat- 
form was  forty-three  feet  wide  (though  in  connection  with 
such  a  figure  it  is  well  to  remember  that  some  seats  were 
provided  on  the  stage).  Projecting  from  the  level  of  the 
top  gallery  and  extending  for  a  few  feet  over  the  stage,  was 
a  structure  called  the  "  hut,"  from  the  bottom  of  which 
a  roof,  or  "  shadow,"  extended  further  over  the  stage.  To- 
gether hut  and  shadow  made  up  what  are  commonly  known 
as  the  "  heavens."  Behind  the  platform  or  the  front 
stage  was  the  rear  stage,  "  an  alcove  in  front  of  which  cur- 
tains could  be  drawn."  In  both  front  and  rear  stages  were 
traps  out  of  which  ghosts  or  apparitions  could  rise  and 
into  which  such  properties  as  the  caldron  in  Macbeth  could 
sink.  From  the  "  heavens,"  actors  representing  gods  or 
spirits — as  Jupiter  Cymheline  or  Ariel  in  The  Tempest 
— could  be  lowered  by  means  of  a  mechanical  contrivance. 
Costumes  were  elaborate,  but  little  effort  was  made  for  his- 
torical accuracy;  and  scenery  was  by  no  means  as  pre- 
tentious as  it  is  to-day.  Scenery  in  fact  was  primarily  in- 
tended simply  to  be  suggestive  and  to  be  assisted  by  the 
play  of  the  imagination;  one  or  two  trees,  for  instance, 
were  supposed  to  indicate  a  forest.  '*  The  capital  differ- 
ence between  the  pre-rebellion  public  stage  and  the  modem 
stage  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  former  was  a  platform  stage, 
while  the  latter  is  a  picture  stage.  .  .  .  The  eye  was 
appealed  to  less  forcibly  than  the  ear.  The  drama  was 
rhetorical,  and  the  actor  more  of  a  rhetorician  than  he  is 
to-day,  since  the  audience  looked  to  his  enunciation  of  the 
poet's  words  for  much  of  the  pleasure  that  the  picture 
stage  supplies  through  the  eye.  .  .  .  Authors,  being  free 
from  the  modern  playwright's  necessity  to  lead  up  to  a 
^  situation/  a  stage  picture,  on  which  the  curtain  may 


38     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

fall  sharply  at  the  close  of  each  act,  made  the  play,  rather 
than  each  division  of  it,  the  artistic  whole/^  ^^  These 
differences  from  more  recent  tendencies  are  important. 

20.  Theatrical  Companies. — In  connection  with  the  In- 
terlude we  have  already  seen  how  companies  of  players 
began  to  be  maintained  by  great  nobles  even  before  the 
close  of  the  fifteenlL  centary.  When  these  companies 
were  not  employed  by  their  patrons  they  were  permitted  to 
travel  about  the  country  to  give  performance?.  The  fact 
that  some  other  bands  of  strolling  players  also  went  about 
from  place  to  place  led  to  a  law  in  1572  to  the  effect  that 
all  such  companies  would  have  to  be  under  the  protection 
of  some  legally  recognized  patron.  Very  frequently  the 
oversight  of  the  patron  was  merely  nominal,  extending  not 
beyond  the  securing  of  a  license.  Obviously,  as  patronage 
might  change,  a  single  company  might  be  known  by  dif- 
ferent names  from  time  to  time.  Thus  "  the  Earl  of 
Leicester's  Men  became  Lord  Strange's  in  1588.  In  1592 
Lord  Strange  became  Earl  of  Derby,  and  the  players 
changed  their  title  accordingly.  In  1594  the  Earl  of 
Derby  died,  and  his  company  of  actors  became  Lord  Huns- 
don's  or  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  Men.  In  1596  the  earl 
died,  and  his  son,  the  second  Lord  Hunsdon,  became  their 
patron;  he  also  became  Chamberlain  in  1597.  After  the 
accession  of  James  in  1603,  this  same  company  was  hon- 
ored with  the  title  of  King's  Players.  William  Shake- 
speare was  certainly  a  member  of  this  company  in  1594, 
and  one  of  itr  foromoiit  men  in  L598.  Richard  ]B■'■•^b^go, 
greatest  actor  of  his  time,  was  Shakespeare's  colleague 
and  first  interpreted  his  great  tragic  characters.  William 
Kemp,  the  best  comedian  of  his  day,  was  a  member  of  this 
H.  Child:  C.  H.  E.  L.,  VI,  295. 


THE  ELIZABETHAN  AGE  39 

same  company."  ^*  After  this  company  one  of  the  best 
known  was  that  of  the  Admiral's  Men,  managed  by  Hens- 
lowe  and  having  its  home  after  1600  in  the  Fortune 
Theatre.  Among  its  actors  was  Edward  Alleyn,  generally 
ranked  next  to  Burbage  among  the  performers  of  the  time. 
Very  popular  also  were  the  companies  of  boyb  oi  the  Chapel 
Eoyal  and  of  St.  PauFs.  On  the  professional  vsiage  female 
pans  were  regularly  taken  by  boys  throughout  the  Eliza- 
bethan and  Jacobean  period  of  the  drama;  women  were 
not  known  on  the  sta^e  until  the  reign  of  Charles  1,  and 
they  found  no  real  place  there  before  the  age  of  the  Res- 
toration. The  boys  in  the  two  companies  specially  re- 
marked, however,  were  usually  well  trained ;  one  company 
at  least  had  the  advantage  of  royal  patronage;  and  in 
general  these  young  players  became  serious  rivals  of  the 
performers  on  most  of  the  commercial  stages.  "  The  per- 
formances of  the  Children  of  the  Chapel  Eoyal  at  the 
Blackfriars  between  1596  and  1608  were  the  most  fashion- 
able in  London.  The  children's  companies  were  finally 
suppressed  about  1609."  ^^  "  The  success  of  the  com- 
panies of  choir  boys  in  both  early  and  later  times  was, 
doubtless,  due,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  songs  scattered 
through  their  plays  and  the  instrumental  music  before  the 
play  began  and  between  the  acts.  Other  companies,  of 
course,  had  incidental  songs,  but,  apparently,  not  so  many 
of  them,  and  instrumental  music  seems  not  to  have  been 
given  in  the  public  theatres."  ^^  These  children  moreover 
"were  pioneers  in  more  than  one  interesting  movement, 

^•Simonds:  A  Studenfs  History  of  English  Literature,  121-22. 
^^  Durham  in  An  Introduction  to  Shakespeare,  49. 
^^  Manly:  "The  Children  of  the  Chapel  Royal  and  their  Masters," 
C.  H.  E.  L.,  VI,  329. 


40      A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

they  produced  the  plays  of  some  of  the  foremost  dramatists 
of  their  time,  they  were  prominent  in  the  curious,  not  to 
say  ludicrous,  ^  war  of  the  theatres,'  ^^  and  they  were  finally 
put  down  because  of  the  vigorous  political  satire  spoken 
through  their  mouths." 

"  See  §  38, 


CHAPTER  IV 
SHAKESPEARE'S  EARLIER  CONTEMPORARIES 

21.  Prominent  Dramatists. — In  the  decade  between 
1570  and  1580  there  grew  up  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge  a 
remarkable  group  of  men  who  made  a  most  distinct  con- 
tribution to  the  developing  form  of  the  drama  and  in  one 
way  or  another  became  forerunners  of  the  great  master 
soon  to  appear.  They  were  as  definite  in  their  ideas  about 
life  and  art  as  they  were  in  their  actual  achievement. 
"  A  pride  in  university  training  which  amounted  to  arro- 
gance, and  a  curious  belief,  not  unknown  even  to-day,  that 
only  the  university-bred  man  can  possibly  have  the  equip- 
ment and  the  sources  of  information  fitting  him  to  be  a 
proper  exponent  of  new,  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  really 
valuable,  ideas  and  literary  methods — these  were  senti- 
ments shared  by  all  the  members  of  the  group  of  ^  univer- 
sity wits.' "  ^  The  men  to  whom  this  term — this  some- 
times rather  misleading  term — is  applied  were  primarily 
John  Lyly,  George  Peele,  Robert  Greene,  Thomas  Lodge, 
and  Thomas  E"ash.  "  University  bred  one  and  all,  these 
^YQ  men  were  proud  of  their  breeding.  However  severe 
from  time  to  time  might  be  their  censures  of  their  intel- 
lectual mother,  they  were  always  ready  to  take  arms  against 
the  unwarranted  assumption,  as  it  seemed  to  them,  of  cer- 
tain dramatists  who  lacked  this  university  training  and 

*  Baker:  "The  Plays  of  the  University  Wits,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  V,  136 
and  159. 

41 


42      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

to  confuse  them  bj  tlie  sallies  of  their  wit."  Lodge  and 
Nash  made  no  such  contribution  as  the  others,  and  are  in 
fact  more  important  in  the  history  of  the  novel  than  of  the 
drama,  though  Lodge's  story  Bosalynde  has  vital  connec- 
tion with  Shakespeare's  As  You  Like  It.  Kyd  and  Mr-r- 
lowc,  who  are  also  tioaled  in  the  present  chapter,  while 
early  contemporaries  of  Shakespeare,  are  generally  some- 
what detached  from  the  men  just  remarked,  though  their 
own  connections  were  close.  Kyd,  while  he  received  some 
foundation  in  things  cultural,  was  not  primarily  a  uni- 
versity man;  but  it  is  rather  by  temper  than  by  training 
that  Marlowe  is  to  be  distinguished  from  his  contempo- 
raries. A  certain  "  high  seriousness  "  characterized  both 
men,  and  in  the  case  of  Marlowe  this  took  the  form  of  a 
soaring  passion  that  was  not  the  less  effective  because  it 
was  arrogant,  ambitious,  and  bold.^ 

22.  John  Lyly.— John  Lyly  (1554?-1606)  holds  a 
unique  place  in  the  history  of  the  English  drama.  Emi- 
nently a  man  of  scholarly  and  cultured  associations,  he 
was  also  the  possessor  of  much  good  sense  and  humor. 
After  receiving  the  A.  B.  degree  at  Oxford  in  1573,  the 
A.  M.  in  1575,  and  also  the  A.  M.  at  Cambridge  in  1579, 
he  went  to  London,  where  he  was  under  the  protection 
of  Lord  Burleigh,  afterwards  the  Earl  of  Oxford.  He 
married  a  lady  of  considerable  standing,  sat  in  four  par- 
liaments, and  at  times  managed  the  children  of  St.  Paul's 
and  of  the  Chapel  at  Blackfriars;  but  he  aspired  in  vain 

'  For  texts  of  plays  of  men  cocsidered  in  the  present  chapter  see 
Manly's  Specimens,  Vol.  II,  Neilson's  The  Chief  Elizabethan  Dra- 
matics, or  individual  volumes  in  Mermaid  Series.  In  addition  to 
critical  articles  by  Baker  and  G,  Gregory  Smith  in  C.  H.  E.  L.,  Vol. 
V,  note  especially  Baker:  The  Development  of  Shakespeare  as  a 
Dramatist,  Chapter  I. 


SHAKESPEARE'S  CONTEMPORARIES         43 

to  the  oflSce  of  Master  of  the  Revels.  He  is  best  known 
for  his  prose  work,  Euphues,  which  appeared  in  two  parts, 
Ewphues  and  his  Anatomie  of  Wit  (1579)  and  EupJiues 
and.  his  Ennlnnd  (1580-81).  Tiiis  work  gave  to  the  lan- 
guage a  new  word,  euphuism,  to  designate  a  style  marked 
by  alliteration,  antithesis,  similes,  conceits,  puns,  mytho- 
logical allusions,  and  a  general  show  of  wit;  and  in  it 
Lyly,  himself  a  courtier,  gave  a  model  not  only  for  the 
writing  but  also  for  the  conversation  of  the  lords  and  ladies 
at  the  court  of  Elizabeth.  To  his  credit  are  eight  plays, 
all  comedies :  Campaspe  (1580  ^),  Sapho  and  Phao  (1581), 
Endimion  (1585),  Gallathea  (1584),  Midas  (1589), 
Ilother  Bomhie  (1590),  The  Woman  in  the  Moone 
(1591),  and  Love's  Metamorphosis  (1589).  These  plays 
were  generally  first  played  before  the  Queen  by  "  the 
children  of  Paul's ;  "  they  are  mainly  in  prose ;  and  being 
panegyrics  on  the  virtue  and  glory  of  the  Queen,  they  are 
more  or  less  allegorical.  They  also  have  a  political  touch 
and  were  primarily  addressed  to  a  limited  and  sophisti- 
cated audience. 

Campaspe  is  generally  considered  the  best  and  clearest 
of  Lyly's  dramas.  The  prologue  professes  to  mix  mirth 
with  counsel  and  discipline  with  delight.  Campaspe  is  a 
Theban  captive  who  in  the  first  scene  is  brought  into  the 
presence  of  Alexander,  King  of  Macedon,  and  certain  of 
his  soldiers.  Alexander  falls  in  love  with  her,  frees  her, 
and  commissions  Apelles  to  paint  her  portrait.  While  the 
painter  is  performing  his  task  he  himself  falls  in  love  with 
Campaspe,  and  his  affection  is  returned.  At  length  Alex- 
ander learns  of  the  love  between  Apelles  and  Campaspe, 

»  Dates  are  of  first  appearance,  in  some  cases  only  approximate, 
and  generally  with  indebtedness  to  Schelling. 


44  A  SHORT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

gives  up  tlie  maiden  to  tlie  painter,  and  sets  out  for  Persia 
with  Hephestion,  a  general  and  his  friend.  Diogenes  and 
his  servant  Manes  furnish  the  comic  matter  of  the  play, 
as  when,  in  the  fourth  act,  Populus  comes  to  see  Diogenes 
fly.  Lyly  does  not  succeed  very  well  in  connecting  his 
main  plot  and  his  comic  matter;  hut  the  main  plot  is 
coherent  and  natural,  and  the  love  motive  is  sympatheti- 
cally handled.  The  lyrics  are  of  excellent  quality,  and  the 
drama  as  a  whole  is  quite  worthy  to  be  the  first  original 
prose  play  in  the  language. 

If  Campaspe  is  Lyly's  clearest  play,  Endim-ion  cer- 
tainly holds  the  strongest  allegory.  Tellus,  the  earthly  love 
of  the  hero,  has  been  abandoned  by  her  lover  for  Cynthia, 
the  goddess  of  the  moon.  She  persuades  the  witch  Dipsas 
to  charm  Endimion  into  a  deep  sleep,  and  he  slumbers 
for  forty  years.  Cynthia  banishes  Tellus  to  the  guard  of 
Corsites  and  sends  into  all  parts  of  the  world  for  a  remedy 
for  Endimion.  His  friend  Eumenides  at  length  finds  out 
from  an  oracle  in  Thessaly  that  a  kiss  from  Cynthia  will 
bring  him  back  to  life.  The  goddess  hears  this  in  the 
presence  of  her  ladies,  visits  Endimion,  finds  him  g-rown 
old,  and  kisses  him.  His  youth  is  restored  and  he  devotes 
his  life  to  the  contemplation  of  Cynthia's  glory  and  perfec- 
tion. The  subplots  are  joined  to  the  main  plot  in  romantic 
fashion ;  Dipsas,  for  instance,  is  loved  by  Sir  Thopas,  and 
thus  furnishes  a  parody  on  the  love  of  Cynthia  and  En- 
dimion. Various  interpretations  of  the  allegory  of  the  play 
have  been  given,  but  about  all  that  editors  are  generally 
agreed  on  is  that  Cynthia  is  Elizabeth  and  Endimion 
Leicester. 

Lyly's  service  to  the  stage  was  considerable.  "  In  his 
attitude  toward  love — ^his  gallant  trifling;  his  idealization 


SHAKESPEARE'S  CONTEMPORARIES         45 

of  women,  which,  with  him,  goes  even  to  the  point  of 
making  them  mere  wraiths ;  above  all,  in  the  curious  effect 
produced  by  his  figures  as  rather  in  love  with  being  in  love 
than  moved  by  real  human  passion — he  is  Italianate  and 
of  the  renascence."  *  He  was  artificial,  and  his  works  show 
no  great  tragic  emotion ;  yet  he  discovered  the  possibilities 
of  repartee  and  the  occasional  lyric,  he  promoted  the  union 
of  the  masque  and  the  regular  drama,  and,  aided  by  euphu- 
ism in  the  choice  of  vocabulary  and  form,  he  definitely 
established  prose  as  the  medium  of  high  as  well  as  low 
comedy  in  English.  He  i:s  in  e\Lry  cense  worthy  of  the 
high  place  he  holds  among  the  predecessors  of  Shake- 
speare. 

23.  George  Peele. — JSfot  a  very  great  deal  is  known 
about  the  life  of  Peele  (1558?-1597?).  He  attended 
Christ's  Hospital  as  a  free  scholar,  and  in  March,  1571,  he 
entered  what  is  now  Pembroke  College,  Oxford;  but  from 
1574  to  1579  he  was  at  Christ's  Church,  where  he  received 
the  A.  B.  degree  in  1577  and  the  A.  M.  in  1579.  In  1583 
he  was  already  married  and  had  obtained  some  land  in 
his  wife's  right.  His  life  in  London,  generally  sordid,  was 
given  to  making  a  living  in  any  way  he  could  by  his  talents. 
In  his  Palladis  Ta/tnia  (1598)  Francis  Meres  spoke  of 
him  as  dead. 

In  the  list  of  Peele's  plays,  masques,  and  pageants,  five 
dramas  stand  out  with  prominence.  These  are  The  Ar* 
raignment  of  Paris  (1581),  The  Famous  Chronicle  of 
^ing  Edward  the  First  (1590),  The  Battle  of  Alcazar 
(1691),  The  OU  Wives'  Tale  (1590),  and  The  Love  of 
^King  David  and  Fair  Bethsahe  (1589).  The  flattery  of 
Elizabeth  in  the  first  of  these  plays  was  deliberate;  its 
*  Baker,  0,  H.  E,  L.,  V,  139. 


46      A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

unity  and  its  poetry  are  admirable;  and  its  production 
was  a  veritable  triumph.  The  theme  is  the  classical  one 
of  the  throwing  by  the  Goddess  of  Discord  of  the  apple 
with  the  motto  Detur  Pulchernrruie  into  the  presence  of 
Juno,  Pallas,  and  Venus.  In  the  end  no  one  of  the  god- 
desses receives  the  apple,  all  agreeing  that  the  nymph 
Zabeta  alone  is  worthy  of  it.  The  different  acts  of  this 
play  stand  out  with  perfect  distinctness  in  their  bearing 
on  the  main  plot.  The  first  shows  Pan,  Faunus,  and 
Silvanus  assembled  to  give  welcome  to  Juno  and  her  com- 
panions, and  bringing  Flora  on  the  scene,  gives  the  neces- 
sary atmosphere ;  the  second  is  concerned  with  the  throw- 
ing of  the  apple  and  the  offers  made  to  Paris  by  Juno, 
Pallas,  and  Venus ;  the  third  brings  on  the  scene  Mercury, 
who  has  been  sent  with  the  Cyclops  of  Vulcan  to  summon 
Paris  to  appear  at  the  council  of  the  gods ;  the  fourth  shows 
the  council  and  gives  the  oration  of  Paris;  and  the  fifth 
contains  Diana's  glowins:  description  of  Eliza,  to  whom 
the  three  goddesses  yield  their  claim.  In  the  course  of  the 
play  Peele  makes  use  of  rhyme,  blank  verse,  and  the  sep- 
tenary. The  oration  of  Paris  is  perhaps  his  best  exauipie 
of  blank  verse. 

David  and  Bethsahe  has  the  distinction  of  being  the 
only  play  on  a  scriptural  theme  by  an  Elizabethan  dra- 
matist that  has  been  preserved  and  is  by  many  critics 
regarded  as  Peele's  masterpiece.  It  has  not  the  unity  of 
The  Arraignment  of  Paris,  however,  and  more  and  more 
reveals  itself  as  a  sort  of  biblical  chronicle  play.  The 
various  incidents  in  the  life  of  David  or  of  his  children 
are  all  here,  but  frequently  they  seem  like  so  many  sepa- 
rate episodes  rather  than  parts  of  a  dramatic  whole,  espe- 
cially as  the  play  reaches  over  a  great  number  of  years. 


SHAKESPEARE'S  CONTEMPORARIES         47 

Peele,  however,  was  not  altogether  without  dramatic  mo- 
tive. The  consequences  of  David's  sin  are  seen  throughout 
the  play,  and  Amnon's  crime  is  but  a  reflection  of  it.  The 
blank  verse  moreover  shows  a  distinct  improvement  on  the 
poet's  earlier  work. 

Peele  has  interesting  connections  with  the  general  trend 
of  English  poetry.  His  Old  Wives'  Tale  suggested  to 
Milton  the  plot  of  Comus,  and  Colin  and  Hobbinol  in  The 
Arraignment  of  Paris  have  been  thought  to  refer  to  Spen- 
ser and  Gabriel  Harvey.  To  the  development  of  the  drama 
he  did  not  contribute  as  much  as  Lyly  or  Greene  or  Mar- 
lowe ;  but  his  humor  is  admirable,  and  the  care  that  he  gave 
to  diction  and  meter  did  rapch  for  the  sreneral  refinement 
of  versification.  ^'  Before  Marlowe  placed  his  stamp  upon 
blank  verse  Peele  was  writing  it  with  great  sweetness  and 
a  charming  musical  quality."  ^ 

24,  Robert  Greene. — Greene  (1558?-1592)  was  bom 
in  Norwich.  He  matriculated  at  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, in  1575,  received  his  A.  B.  there  in  1578,  and  his 
A.  M.  at  Clare  Hall  in  1583,  and,  after  an  interval  that 
seems  to  have  been  spent  mainly  in  Italy  and  Spain,  he 
also  received  the  A.  M.  degree  at  Oxford  in  1588.  In  his 
later  years  he  was  proud  of  the  fact  that  he  represented 
both  universities.  In  1585  he  married  a  gentleman's 
daughter  and  settled  in  IN^orwich,  but  he  forsook  his  wife 
after  she  had  borne  him  a  son  and  he  had  spent  her  dowry. 
He  was  a  man  of  jealous  disposition ;  his  '*  Address  to  the 
Gentlemen  Readers  "  prefixed  to  the  pamphlet  entitled 
Perimedes  the  Blacke-Smith  contains  a  rather  satirical 
reference  to  Marlowe's  Tamhurlaine^  and  in  A  Groatsworth 
of  Wit  he  spoke  of  Shakespeare  as  an  "  upstart  crow  "  that 

'  Neilson. 


48   A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

beautified  himself  with  the  feathers  of  others  and  as  '^  in 
his  own  conceit  the  only  Shakescene  in  a  country."  He 
died  in  poverty  at  the  home  of  a  shoemaker  who  took 
him  in. 

Greene  was  distinctively  a  man  of  letters,  a  sensitive 
and  ambitious  author,  and  his  writing  generally  exhibits 
eminent  refinement  and  good  taste.  His  work  draws  much 
on  Italian  sources,  and  some  of  his  pamphlets  are  what  we 
should  now  call  novelettes.  Fandosto  became  the  source 
of  Shakespeare's  The  Winter's  Tale.  In  the  field  of  the 
drama  Greene  is  generally  credited  with  six  plays,  though 
others  have  been  ascribed  to  him.  These  are  AlpJionsuSj 
King  of  Arragon  (1589),  Orlando  Furioso  (1592),  Friar 
Bacon  and  Fnar  Bungay  (1589 j,  James  the  Fourth 
(1590),  George  a-Greene  (1588?),  and  (in  collaboration 
with  Lodge)  A  Looking  Glass  for  London  and  England 
(1589).  In  Alphonsus  he  seems  to  have  had  some  idea  of 
rivaling  Marlowe's  Tamhurlaine,  which  had  appeared  in 
1587;  Orlando  Furioso  is  of  course  founded  on  Ariosto's 
poem  and  anticipates  Shakespeare's  As  You  Like  It  in  the 
posting  of  messages  on  trees;  and  A  Looking  Glass  for 
London  and  England^  in  the  story  of  Rasni,  King  of 
Kineveh,  furnishes  ''  a  specimen  of  a  peculiar  Elizabethan 
variation  on  the  manner  of  the  old  religious  drama."  ^ 
Much  more  important,  however,  arc  the  other  two  plays. 

The  Scottish  Hystorie  of  James  the  Fourth,  Slaine  at 
Flodden,  although  it  sounds  like  one,  is  not  really  an  his- 
torical play.  Suggested  by  a  story  in  the  Hecatommithi 
of  Giraldi  Cinthio,  it  is  rather  romantic  in  tone.  James 
marries  Dorothea,  an  English  princess,  only  to  find  that  he 
has  perjured  himself,  as  he  is  really  in  love  with  Ida, 

•  Ward. 


SHAKESPEARE'S  CONTEMPORARIES         49 

daughter  of  the  Countess  of  Arran.  Ateukin,  a  parasite 
of  James,  tries  to  get  Ida  to  play  the  part  of  a  mistress  to 
the  king,  but  fails  utterly.  The  noblemen  of  the  realm 
inform  Queen  Dorothea  of  the  king's  love  for  Ida,  but 
she  does  not  believe  them.  Only  when  Jaques,  a  French- 
man who  has  been  bribed  by  Ateukin,  attempts  to  kill  her 
does  she  change  her  opinion.  Rescued  by  an  old  knight, 
she  assumes  the  disguise  of  a  squire,  and  remains  for  a 
considerable  time  in  concealment,  attended  only  by  the 
dwarf  Nano.  Ida  now  marries  Eustace,  an  English  gen- 
tleman, and  Ateukin,  conscience-smitten,  warns  the  king 
of  the  consequences  of  his  deeds.  The  English  sovereign 
meanwhile  makes  war  on  James  because  of  the  sufferings 
of  Dorothea,  and  the  Scottish  king  is  deserted  by  his 
subjects.  The  queen,  however,  reappears  on  the  scene  and 
restores  good  feeling.  This  play  is  noteworthy  for  its 
good  diction,  its  rapidity  of  action,  its  use  of  comic  matter, 
and  the  excellent  characterization  of  Dorothea. 

In  Friar  Bacon  cmd  Friar  B'ungay  there  are  two  main 
themes.  The  first  is  that  of  the  magic  of  Eriar  Bacon, 
foremost  of  Englishmen  in  his  art,  who  confounds  the 
German  Vandermast.  The  second  is  that  of  the  romance 
of  Margaret,  "  the  fair  maid  of  Fressingfield,''  beloved  of 
Prince  Edward,  who  sends  Lacy,  Earl  of  Lincoln,  to  woo 
her,  only  to  have  her  fall  in  love  with  Lacy  (all  this  being 
of  course  simply  a  variation  of  the  Miles  Standish  idea 
which  was  also  common  in  the  age  of  Elizabeth,  appear- 
ing among  other  places  in  Twelfth  Niglit).  The  scene  at 
Harlston  Fair  is  one  of  Greene's  best  for  the  freshness  of 
country  life.  Comic  interest  is  furnished  by  Bacon's 
servant  Miles,  who  is  carried  off  by  the  devil  with  the 
understanding  that  he  is  to  have  a  lusty  fire,  a  pot  of  good 


50     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

ale,  and  a  "  pair  "  of  cards.  Lacy,  before  coining  finally 
to  take  Margaret  to  be  one  of  the  ladies  attending  Princess 
Elinor,  in  order  to  test  her  love  and  patience  sends  her 
word  to  the  effect  that  he  is  to  be  married  to  some  one  else. 
This,  as  Ward  points  out,  is  simply  a  reappearance  of  the 
Griselda  motive.  The  play  as  a  whole,  however,  well  illus- 
trates Greene's  ability  to  weave  together  scattered  threads 
of  story,  and  his  appreciation  of  the  elements  of  condensa- 
tion and  suspense. 

By  his  plays  as  well  as  by  his  pamphlets  Greene  be- 
comes more  closely  connected  with  Shakespeare  than  any 
of  his  contemporaries.  Especially  did  he  anticipate  the 
master  dramatis^  in  introducing  genuine  comedy  into  seri- 
ous plays,  in  portraying  the  character  of  women,  in  his  use 
of  the  fairy  element,  in  the  delineation  of  idyllic  scenes, 
and  in  suggesting  the  national  spirit.  Hardly  too  much 
emphasis  can  be  placed  on  his  handling  of  the  story  ele- 
ment. While  other  writers  were  making  their  contribu- 
tion in  form  and  sometimes  even  in  spirit,  Greene  first 
fully  appreciated  the  practical  possibilities  of  a  compli- 
cated and  swiftly  moving  narrative. 

25.  Thomas  Kyd— Thomas  Kyd  (1558 M594),  the 
son  of  a  London  scrivener,  Frances  Kyd,  in  his  earlier 
years  attended  the  Merchant  Taylors'  School,  but  does 
not  seem  to  have  attended  the  universities.  He  evidently 
was  a  man  of  gloomy  temperament,  and  a  habit  of 
anonymity  that  seemed  to  characterize  him  has  raised 
many  baffling  questions  with  reference  to  his  work.  He 
made  one  or  two  translations  from  the  French,  quite  cer- 
tainly wrote  The  Tmge-'^ie  of  l^oUmo'n  and  Pi  rseda-,  and, 
according  to  the  convictions  of  the  individual  investigator, 
was  also  responsible  for  the  First  Paii  of  Jeronimo  and 


SHAKESPEiVRE^S  CONTEMPORARIES         6i 

the  so-called  lost  Hamlet,  His  place  in  tlie  history  of  the 
drama,  however,  depends  upon  one  remarkable  produc- 
tion, The  SpoMlsli  Trrnpcly,  which  first  took  the  stage  about 
1586  and  which  went  through  several  editions  in  print. 

Whatever  may  be  said  with  reference  to  the  authorship 
of  the  First  Part  of  Jeronimo,  the  story  connection  between 
this  and  The  Spanish  Tragedy  is  very  close.  The  greater 
play  opens  with  the  Ghost  of  Andrea,  recently  a  courtier 
at  the  Spanish  court,  who  had  incurred  the  enmity  of 
Lorenzo,  son  of  Don  Ciprian,  Duke  of  Castile  (with  whose 
sister,  Bel-imperia,  he  was  in  love),  by  being  appointed 
over  Lorenzo  ambassador  to  Portugal,  and  who  had  finally 
been  killed  on  the  field  of  battle  by  Balthazar,  son  of  the 
Viceroy  of  Portugal,  whom  he  had  offended  by  his  defiant 
attitude.  At  the  first  meeting  of  Andrea  and  Balthazar, 
Andrea  had  been  saved  by  Horatio,  son  of  Hieronimo, 
knight-marshal  of  Spain.  After  xindrea  had  finally  been 
slain  by  other  Portuguese  soldiers,  Horatio  came  up  again, 
and,  finding  Balthazar  exulting  over  the  corpse,  himself 
engaged  the  Viceroy's  son,  forcing  him  to  the  ground,  only 
to  be  robbed  of  the  full  glory  of  the  achievement  by  Lo- 
renzo, who  rushed  on  the  scene  and  received  Balthazar's 
sword.  Here  The  Spanish  Tragedy  definitely  takes  up 
the  story.  Balthazar  is  brought  to  Spain,  and  when  the 
question  of  his  capture  comes  up  in  court,  the  king  awards 
to  Horatio  the  ransom,  but  gives  to  his  nephew  Lorenzo 
Balthazar's  weapons  and  his  horse,  and  the  honor  of  guard- 
ing the  prince.  With  the  goodwill  of  Lorenzo,  Balthazar 
falls  in  love  with  Bel-imperia ;  but  this  young  woman,  now 
that  Andrea  is  dead,  has  given  her  heart  to  Horatio.  One 
night,  while  Horatio  and  Bel-imperia  are  together  in  a 
bower,  Lorenzo  and  Balthazar,  assisted  by  two  attendants, 


62     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRMIA 

suddenly  come  upon  them,  hang  the  marshal's  son,  and 
place  Bel-imperia  in  close  confinement.  Hieronimo, 
alarmed  by  the  outcry,  comes  out  to  the  garden,  closely 
followed  by  his  wife  Isabella.  The  rest  of  the  play  is  con- 
cerned primarily  with  his  revenge,  and  in  its  violence  and 
sensationalism  one  sees  perhaps  as  nowhere  else  the  quali- 
ties of  the  blood-and-thunder  type  of  tragedy  that  became 
so  exceedingly  popular  with  the  Elizabethans.  Hieronimo 
first  learns  just  who  the  murderers  were  from  a  message 
from  Bel-imperia  written  in  blood,  is  driven  to  madness, 
at  length  presents  before  the  court  a  play  in  the  course 
of  which  he  kills  Lorenzo,  and  finally  bites  out  his  own 
tongue,  stabs  the  Duke  of  Castile,  and  kills  himself.  This 
play,  so  strongly  representative  of  the  "  tragedy  of  blood," 
was  greatly  influenced  by  Seneca ;  and  through  such  things 
as  the  motive  of  revenge  (in  this  case  that  of  a  father  for 
the  death  of  a  son  rather  than  vice  versa),  the  ghost,  the 
madness  of  Hieronimo,  the  play  within  a  play,  and  the 
general  slaughter,  its  affinity  with  Hamlet  becomes  rapidly 
apparent.  More  and  more  in  fact  Shakespeare's  master- 
piece appears  simply  as  the  highest  example  of  a  popular 
form  of  play  that  frequently  contained  many  powerful 
instances  of  tragic  emotion  but  that  also  cultivated  many 
melodramatic  and  sensational  elements. 

26.  Christopher  Marlovi^e.  —  Christopher  Marlowe 
(1564-1593)  was  the  son  of  John  Marlowe,  a  shoemaker 
of  Canterbury.  He  was  educated  at  the  King's  School  in 
his  town  and  at  what  is  now  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge,  where  he  received  the  A.  B.  degree  in  1584 
and  the  A.  M.  in  1587.  Very  little  is  definitely  known 
about  his  career  after  he  left  the  university.  He  was  on 
familiar  terms  with  his  fellow-dramatists,   Kyd,   Xash, 


SHAKESPEARE'S  CONTEMPORARIES         53 

Greene,  and  Chapman ;  was  probably  also  acquainted  with 
Shakespeare  and  Kaleigh ;  and,  while  his  atheistic  opinions 
have  doubtless  been  exaggerated,  he  did  say  enough  to 
shock  the  sober  religious  conscience  of  the  time.  En- 
gaging in  a  tavern  brawl  in  Deptford,  he  was  killed,  and 
thus  died  before  he  reached  the  age  of  thirty.  By  his 
general  achievement,  however,  and  especially  by  the  superb 
poetry  that  flashes  out  in  many  of  his  passages,  Marlowe 
has  generally  been  awarded  the  position  of  the  foremost 
of  the  early  contemporaries  of  Shakespeare. 

Marlowe  has  a  name  in  the  general  literature  of  the 
Elizabethan  period  primarily  by  his  poem,  Hero  and 
Leander,  and  the  list  of  his  dramatic  works  would  also 
include  The  Massacre  of  Paris  and  The  Tragedie  of  Dido 
Queene  of  Carthage.  Both  of  these  plays  seem  to  have 
been  written  in  collaboration,  however,  and  neither  is  in 
typical  vein  or  really  represents  him.  Marlowe  is  really 
remembered  for  five  interesting  productions :  Taniburlaine 
the  Great  (in  two  parts)  (1587),  The  Tragicall  History 
of  Dr,  Faustus  (1588),  The  Jew  of  Maltsi  (1598),  and 
The  TrouUesome  Reign  and  Lam^entahle  Death  of  Edward 
the  Second  (1592).  In  general  his  plays  are  eloquent, 
though  frequently  bombastic ;  and  his  common  type  is  the 
embodiment  of  insatiable  desire.  lie  invites  comparison 
with  such  a  later  poet  as  Byron,  in  whom  the  lyric  rather 
than  the  dramatic  genius  was  dominant;  like  Byron  also 
he  was  not  strong  in  the  portrayal  of  women,  and  his  men 
are  generally  the  reflection  of  his  own  powerful  personality. 

Tamhurla)ine  was  essentially  the  work  of  Marlowe's 
youth.  As  such  it  is  his  most  extravagant  but  at  the  same 
time  his  most  characteristic  production.  Each  of  the  dram- 
atist's plays  represents  some  one  overmastering  passion, 


54     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

and  in  this  case  a  great  conqueror  seeks  worlf' -ponder.  In 
the  first  play  he"  subdues  in  succession  Persia,  Turkey,  and 
Damascus;  in  the  second  he  gives  way  to  unspeakable 
grief  for  his  ^'  divine  Zenocrate."  It  was  these  closely 
related  productions  that  began  Marlowe's  reputation  for 
the  "  mis-hty  line "  for  which  he  has  become  known. 
Oosroe,  brother  of  the  Persian  king,  intends  to  "  ride  in 
triumph  through  Persepolis ;  "  and  Tamburlaine  justifies 
his  ambition  in  lines  that  cling  to  the  memory: 

The  thirst  of  reign  and  sweetness  of  a  crown 

Doth  teach  us  all  to  have  aspiring  minds. 

While  rhetoric  and  poetry  are  thus  frequently  admirable, 
the  extravagance  of  the  play  can  be  excused  only  as  satis- 
fying the  demand  of  the  day.  Tamburlaine  mounts  up  to 
his  throne  with  Bajazeth,  the  conquered  Turkish  emperor, 
as  his  footstool;  and  in  the  second  play  he  appears  in  a 
chariot  drawn  by  the  kings  whom  he  has  captured.  The 
drama  is  entirely  without  moral  significance  and  depended 
for  its  success  solely  upon  such  characteristics  as  have 
been  remarked. 

Dr.  Faustus  is  a  one-part  play  based  on  an  old  legend 
and  is  rather  a  succession  of  scenes  than  a  finished  drama. 
The  hero  by  no  means  rises  to  the  grandeur  of  Goethe's 
conception;  he  is  rather  a  mere  sorcerer  and  sensualist  who 
sells  his  soul  for  the  vain  price  of  twenty-four  years  of 
enjoyment  and  cringes  when  the  forfeit  is  demanded.  The 
comic  scenes  hardly  strengthen  the  play  and  indeed  were 
probably  not  written  by  Marlowe,  who  in  general  exhibits 
no  humor ;  and  many  of  the  devices  of  the  old  moralities — 
Good  Angel,  Bad  Angel,  Old  Man  (that  is,  Sage  Coun- 
sel),   and   the    Seven   Deadly    Sins — are    thrust    almost 


SHAKESPEARE  ^S  CONTEMPORARIES    55 

mechanically  into  the  whole.  In  spite  of  all  this,  more 
than  one  passage  is  in  Marlo^ve'^  typical  vein,  and  in  at 
least  two  places  the  verse  rises  to  the  plane  of  high  poetry. 
One  of  these  is  the  address  to  Helen,  "  Was  this  the  face 
that  launched  a  thousand  ships  ?  "  and  the  other  is  the 
famous  soliloquy  of  Faustus  in  the  last  scene. 

The  Jew  of  Malta  through  its  chief  character  Barabas 
of  course  invites  comparison  v^ith  Shylock  in  The  Mer- 
chant of  Venice;  but  v^hile  both  of  these  characters  were 
the  product  of  an  age  that  hated  the  Jews,  Shakespeare's 
holds  his  strength  while  Marlowe's  degenerates.  No  play 
moreover  better  illustrates  than  this  Marlowe's  difficulty 
in  sustaining  energy  at  a  given  dramatic  pitch,  or  his 
tendency  toward  melodramatic  and  sensational  devices. 
Barabas  first  appears  in  a  superb  scene  counting  his  money 
and  musing  upon  his  successful  ventures;  at  the  close  of 
the  play,  however,  not  only  has  he  awakened  no  sympa- 
thetic understanding  of  the  Jew,  but  he  has  raised  more 
than  one  question  of  dramatic  justice.  All  the  same  The 
Jew  of  Malta  has  its  merits  and  its  distinctive  interest, 
and  is  one  of  the  Elizabethan  dramas  that  one  could  least 
afford  not  to  read. 

Edimrd  II  has  been  highly  praised  in  some  quarters 
and  not  only  excels  Marlowe's  other  productions  in  tech- 
nique, but  was  so  well  done  as  to  give  a  new  significance 
to  the  current  chronicle  play.  It  has  been  much  com- 
pared with  Shakespeare's  Richard  II,  which  appeared 
about  the  same  time.  With  all  of  its  excellence  in  char- 
acterization and  workmanship,  however,  Edward  II  does 
not  possess  the  interest  of  some  of  Marlowe's  earlier  efforts ; 
and,  as  crude  as  TamhurJaine  and  Dr.  Faustus  are  in  many 
places,  most  people  instinctively  turn  to  these  characteris« 


56     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

tic  efforts  rather  than  to  the  detail  of  the  career  of  one 
of  England's  weakest  kings.  Says  Hazlitt :  "  Edward  II  is 
dra^vTi  with  historic  truth,  but  without  much  dramatic 
effect  The  management  of  the  plot  is  feeble  and  desul- 
tory ;  little  interest  is  excited  in  the  various  turns  of  fate ; 
the  characters  are  too  worthless,  have  too  little  energy, 
and  their  punishment  is,  in  general,  too  well  deserved  to 
excite  our  commiseration;  so  that  this  play  will  bear,  on 
the  whole,  but  a  distant  comparison  with  Shakespeare's 
Richard  II  in  conduct,  power,  or  effect.  But  the  death 
of  Edward  II,  in  Marlowe's  tragedy,  is  certainly  superior 
to  that  of  Shakespeare's  king;  and  in  heart-breaking  dis- 
tress, and  a  sense  of  human  weakness,  claiming  pity  for 
utter  helplessness  and  conscious  misery,  is  not  surpassed 
by  any  writer  whatever."  ^ 

The  value  of  Marlowe's  contribution  to  the  drama  is  in- 
contestable. He  definitely  stamped  blank  verse  as  the 
medium  of  the  English  drama  and  showed  how  great  might 
be  the  assistance  to  a  play  of  soaring  rhetoric  and  striking 
poetry.  Generally  weak  in  characterization  and  frequently 
so  in  construction,  he  still  opened  as  no  one  else  had  done 
the  great  founts  of  the  imagination,  and  thus  he  challenged 
his  great  contemporary  to  even  greater  effort  and  still 
loftier  achievement. 

'  Lecture  II  in  "  Dramatic  Literature  of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth." 


CHAPTER  V 

SHAKESPEAKE 

27.  Life. — William  Shakespeare  was  born  in  Stratford- 
on-Avon  in  Warwickshire  on  or  about  April  23,  1564,  the 
authority  for  this  statement  being  the  record  of  his  baptism 
under  date  April  26,  1564.  His  father,  John  Shakespeare, 
passed  through  various  municipal  offices,  and  his  mother, 
Mary  Arden  before  her  marriage,  was  the  daughter  of  a 
substantial  farmer  of  Wilmcote,  near  Stratford.  There 
are  no  records  of  the  childhood  and  schooldays  of  the 
dramatist,  though  it  is  supposed  that  for  some  time  he  at- 
tended the  grammar  school  at  his  home,  learning  the 
rudiments  of  such  a  subject  as  Latin.  He  possessed  re- 
markable acquisitive  power,  however,  and  even  if  he  had 
little  regular  schooling  he  was  able  to  take  in  and  use  to 
the  best  advantage  all  the  facts  of  language,  science,  or 
art  that  were  to  be  gleaned  from  reading,  conversation, 
or  observation.  On  E'ovember  28,  1582,  two  farmers  of 
Shottery,  near  Stratford,  signed  a  guarantee  bond  "  to 
free  the  bishop  of  responsibility  in  case  of  the  subsequent 
discovery  of  any  impediment  rendering  invalid  the  pros- 
pective marriage  of  William  Shakespeare  to  Anne  Hath- 
away." Anne  Hathaway  was  eight  years  older  than  her 
husband;  her  marriage  doubtless  took  place  very  soon 
after  the  date  of  the  bond;  and  her  first  child,  Susanna, 
was  born  May  26,  1583.  Two  other  children,  the  twins 
Hamnet  and  Judith,  were  baptized  February  2,  1585* 

6T 


68      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRMIA 

These  were  all  the  children  of  Shakespeare,  and  the  son 
Hamnet,  for  whom  he  had  hoped  so  much,  died  when  he 
was  only  eleven  years  old.  About  1586^  influenced  some- 
what possibly  by  the  pressure  upon  him  after  a  traditional 
deer-stealing  episode,  but  doubtless  more  by  the  oppor- 
tunities offered  by  the  capital  to  a  young  man  who  was 
already  the  father  of  three  children,  Shakespeare  went 
to  London  and  soon  became  a  part  of  the  theatrical  life 
of  the  day.  By  1592  (as  we  know  from  the  reference  of 
Greene  already  cited)  he  was  a  rapidly  rising  playwright. 
He  received  to  some  extent  the  benefits  of  patronage,  and 
he  was  an  actor  and  a  stockholder  in  the  theatres  of  London 
as  well  as  a  playwright.  By  1597  he  seems  so  far  to  have 
improved  his  worldly  station  as  to  be  able  to  relieve  his 
father  from  pressing  financial  obligations  and  also  to  pur- 
chase New  Place,  the  largest  house  in  Stratford,  though 
he  did  not  return  to  take  up  his  regular  residence  in  the 
town  for  the  next  fourteen  or  fifteen  years.  For  some 
years  previous  io  1604,  when  he  was  producing  many  of 
his  greatest  plays,  Shakespeare  seems  to  have  lived  at  th^ 
home  of  a  wigmaker  and  hairdresser,  Christopher  Mount 
joy,  in  Cripplegate  ward,  just  shout  a  five-minute  waP 
from  St.  Pa^il'd.  He  was  on  pleasant  terms  with  his 
literary  associates,  especially  with  such  a  man  as  Ben 
Jonson,  but  was  also  a  man  of  unusual  business  ability, 
his  income  from  all  sources  in  his  later  years  being  com- 
puted at  what  would  now  be  $25,000.  About  1612  Shake- 
speare seems  to  have  ceased  the  writing  of  plays  and  to 
have  retired  to  Stratford.  He  died  April  23,  1616^  and 
was  buried  in  the  chancel  of  the  Stratford  church.^ 

*  The  great  authtuity  on  the  biography  of  ShakespRare  ia  Sidney 
L?e:  Life  of  William  Shakespeare;  but  for  first  study  MacCracken, 


SHAKESPEARE  59 

28.  Indebtedness  to  Predecessors. — It  is  a  mistake  to 
think  of  Shakespeare  as  a  great  and  unheralded  phenom- 
enon who  happened  to  he  horn  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 
His  plays  constantly  reveal  him  as  eminently  of  his  age — 
representative  of  his  age  aud  ai  liio  same  ili^xo  univ  ersal  in 
his  appeal.  We  have  seen  that  he  was  indebted  to  Lyly, 
to  Greene,  to  Kyd,  and  to  Marlowe  for  the  distinctive 
contributions  to  the  uiaiiM  tuki  he  might  utilize  or  not 
at  his  pleasure;  he  was  indeed  the  heir  of  all  who  had 
preceded  him  in  this  particular  form.  An  ?ig&..of_pa- 
triotism,  ^ertness^  and^^^jrnriositj^ jmoreover  had  placed 
at  JJiia.„^[isp^aLall_ the  treasures  o£_ the  ^Renaissance. 
Hardly  a  scholar  in  tte"tec£nical  sense,  he  nevertheless 
read  widely  and  discursi  >  ely.  and  at  the  same  time  to  good 
advantage.  Of  Latin  he  possessed  at  I-ast  an  tiementary 
knowledge ;  but  Greek,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  French  works 
he  did  not  have  to  read  in  the  original,  as  he  could  almost 
always  find  what  he  wanted  in  an  Enc:Hrli  translation. 
His  plays  m  numerous  mstaices  thow  him  to  have  been 
familiar  with  the  school  books,  Lilly's  Latin  Grainmar 
and  Aesop's  Fables  and  with  such  a  Latin  author  as  Ovid 
as  well,  j-'or  his  Koman  tragedies  he  depended  on  Sir 
Thomas  ISTorth^g  translation  through  the  French  of 
Plutarch's  Lives;  for  Italian  stories  from  Boccaccio, 
Ariosto,  Bandello,  and  Cinthio  he  availed  himself  of  sucli 
workb  as  Painter's  Palace  of  Pleasure  and  Arthur  Brooke's 
poem,  Tragicall  ilistorye  of  Romeus  and  Juliet;  he  was 
acquainted  with  early  English  folklore  and  legend;  and 

Pierce,  and  Durham:  An  Introduction  to  Shakespeare,  and  Neilson 
and  Tiiorndike:  The  Facts  about  Shakespeare  are  quite  sufficient. 
These  are  two  excellent  handbooks,  admirably  complementing  each 
other,  as  the  method  of  approach  is  somewhat  different. 


60   A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

with  the  Bible,  the  greater  works  in  English  literature, 
and  the  plays  that  were  being  presented  in  his  own  time 
he  was  perfectly  familiar.  The  whole  matter  of  the  sources 
of  Shakespeare's  plays  is  a  study  in  itself;  but  at  leasf 
enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  in  some  measure  at 
least  the  dramatist  was  the  product  of  his  age.  He  was  in 
fact  so  well  poised  and  possessed  such  an  adequate  sense 
of  humor  and  human  values  that  he  even  ventured  upon 
mild  satire  of  the  conditions  under  which  his  own  plays 
were  produced  (as  in  the  interlude  of  Pyramus  and  Thisbe 
in  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream). 

29.  Periods  of  Dramatic  Work. — Shakespeare's  dra- 
matic activity  is  commonly  divided  into  four  periods. 
These,  with  the  plays  produced,  are  as  follows : 

(1)  1590-1594.  Comedies:  Love's  Labour's  Lost,  The 
Comedy  of  Errors,  The  Two  Gentleirmn  of  Yerona; 
Tragedies:  Titus  Andronicus  and  probably  the  first  draft 
of  Romeo  and  Juliet  (the  play  being  revised  1597)  ;  His- 
tories: Henry  VI  (three  parts),  Richard  III,  King  John, 
Richard  II, 

(2)  1595-1600.  Comedies:  A  Midsu7n\rrher  Night's 
Dream,  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  The  Taming  of  the 
Shrew,  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  Much  Ado  ahoui 
Nothing,  As  You  Like  It,  Twelfth  Night;  Histories: 
Henry  IV  (two  parts),  Henry  V. 

(3)  1601-1609.  Comedies:  Troilus  and  Cressida,  AlVs 
Well  that  Ends  Well,  Measure  for  Measure;  Tragedies: 
J'u.lius  Caesar,  Hamlet,  Othello,  King  Lear,  Macbeth, 
Timon  of  Athens,  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  Coriolanus. 

(4)  1610-1612.  Comedies:  Cymbeline,  The  Winters 
Tale,  The  Tempest, 

This  enumeration  of  course  takes  no  account  of  the  so- 


SHAKESPEARE  61 

called  Shakespeare  Apocrypha.  Pericles,  in  the  composi- 
tion of  which  Shakespeare  probably  had  some  part  after 
the  second  act,  might  be  placed  at  the  end  of  the  third 
period;  and  Henry  VIII,  in  which  he  seems  to  have  col- 
laborated with  John  Fletcher,  might  be  placed  in  the 
fourth  period. 

30.  Plays  of  First  Period. — The  first  period  of  Shake- 
speare's dramatic  development  was  essentially  one  of 
apprenticeship  and  imitation.  The  young  artist  was  im- 
proving himself  in  versification  and  studying  the  efforts 
of  his  contemporaries  to  the  end  that  he  might  be  more 
skilful  in  his  own  technique.  Lyly,  Greene,  Kyd,  and 
Marlowe  were  all  powerful  in  their  influence;  and  while 
the  period  placed  most  emphasis  on  comedy  it  also  made  a 
strong  beginning  in  tragedy  and  history. 

Thoroughly  typical  is  Love's  Labour's  Lost  (1591). 
This  play  makes  unusual  use  of  rhyme,  a  mark  of  the 
dramatist's  earlier  years,  and  is  dominated  throughout  by 
the  euphuistic  style.  The  rather  artificial  plot  of  a  kin^ 
and  three  of  his  lords  who  forswear  the  company  of  ladies 
for  three  years  in  order  to  devote  themselves  to  study  and 
who  are  interrupted  by  a  princess  and  her  ladies  who  come 
on  an  embassy,  serves  only  as  the  basis  of  unlimited  wit 
and  repartee.  Among  the  lords  Biron,  a  prototype  of 
Jaques  in  As  You  Like  It,  is  outstanding ;  while  Armado, 
his  foil,  is  a  forerunner  of  Malvolio  in  Twelfth  Night.  A 
Spanish  braggart  slightly  reminiscent  of  Kalph  Eoister 
Doister,  he  has  also  an  experience  like  that  of  Malvolio 
when  entanglement  in  a  device  of  letters  leads  to  his  ulti- 
mate discomfiture. 

The  Conuedy  of  Errors  (1591)  depends  for  its  merit 
primarily  upon  its  rapid  action  and  its  use  of  mistaken 


62      A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

identity.  The  plot  was  taken  primarily  from  the  Me- 
naecJimd  of  Plautus,  with  some  suggestions  from  the 
Amphitruo;  and  the  play,  dealing  with  the  story  of  two 
twin  sons  and  their  servants,  the  famous  Dromios,  while 
it  makes  much  use  of  word-play  and  doggerel,  is  in  some 
ways  so  excellent  as  to  lead  some  scholars  to  doubt  that 
it  should  be  placed  among  the  dramatist's  earliest  efforts. 
"  Three  things  are  especially  noteworthy  in  Shakespeare's 
adaptation :  the  far  greater  complication  in  story  than  in 
the  Latin  originals;  the  skill  with  which  the  story  is 
adapted  to  the  tastes  of  the  immediate  public ;  and  the  in- 
genuity combined  with  sureness  with  which  Shakespeare 
handles  his  many  threads  of  plot."  ^ 

The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona  (1592)  is  in  every 
way  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  Shakespeare's  plays 
for  the  student  of  dramatic  workmanship.  In  no  other 
are  the  mistakes  of  the  young  artist  more  apparent ;  in  no 
other  is  his  meritorious  striving  more  manifest.  The 
play  deals  in  highly  artificial  fashion  with  the  love  affairs 
of  four  characters — Valentine,  Proteus,  Silvia,  and  Julia — 
and  contains  several  situations  or  incidents  that  within  a 
few  years  became  conventional  on  the  Elizabethan  stage. 
Some  of  these  Shakespeare  himself  later  used  to  better 
advantage,  such  as  the  turning  of  a  plot  on  the  device  of 
a  ladder  of  cords  or  the  giving  up  of  a  betrothal  ring,  a 
discussion  of  different  suitors  by  two  ladies,  a  young 
woman's  following  the  object  of  her  love  disguised  as  a 
page,  and  this  same  young  woman's  being  sent  as  a  mes- 
senger to  the  newer  lo-'-e  of  her  lord.  The  production 
shows  a  lack  of  dramatic  proportion,  the  first  two  acts 
moving  with  unusual  slowness,  and  the  characterization, 

^  Baker:  The  Development  of  Shakespeare  as  a  Dramatist,  135. 


SHAKESPEARE  63 

strong  at  times,  is  rather  uneven.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
excessive  euphuism  sometimes  gives  way  to  superb  and 
genuine  pueUy ;  Launce  is  an  impressive  experiment  in 
low  comedy;  and  the  highly  romantic  and  lyric  note  that 
is  frequently  struck  gives  good  promise  of  greater  things 
to  jome. 

The  three  plays  of  Henry  VI  are  concerned  with  the 
historical  events  of  the  close  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War 
and  of  the  Wars  of  the  Koses.  The  first  play  deals  pri- 
marily with  Joan  of  Arc  and  Talbot,  the  English  com- 
mander ;  the  second  with  the  murder  of  Humphrey,  Duke 
of  Gloucester,  by  Suffolk,  the  subequent  overthrow  of  Suf- 
folk himself,  the  insurrection  led  by  Jack  Cade,  and  the 
battle  of  St.  Alban's;  and  the  third  with  the  further 
course  of  the  Wars  of  the  Eoses,  from  the  death  of  Richard 
of  York  to  the  elevation  as  king  of  his  son,  Edward  IV. 
These  plays,  based  naturally  on  Holinshed  and  written  to 
some  extent  at  least  in  collaboration,  have  offered  to 
scholars  one  of  the  most  baffling  problems  in  the  history  of 
literature.  It  seems  safe  to  say,  however^  that  with  the 
first  one,  which  gives  a  strange  and  coarse  portrayal  of 
Joan  of  Arc,  Shakespeare  had  very  little  to  do;  that  he 
probably  wrote  a  considerable  part  of  the  second,  in  which 
the  characteristics  of  his  genius  are  frequently  manifest; 
and  that  he  had  much  to  do  with  the  third,  which  reveals 
throughout  the  hand  of  a  painstaking  w^orkman. 

Titus  Andronicus  (1592)  is  a  "  tragedy  of  blood,"  writ- 
ten for  a  public  that  had  recently  been  thrilled  by  The 
Spanish  Tragedy  and  The  Jeiv  of  Malta  and  that  desired 
more  entertainment  of  the  same  sort,  or  plays  even  more 
sensational  and  revengeful.  Doubt  has  more  than  once 
been  cast  on  Shakespeare's  authorship  of  this  production, 


64     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

but  it  seems  quite  certainly  his  and  nothing  more  than  an 
early  and  hasty  performance  in  the  "  blood-and-thunder  " 
type  of  tragedy  which  later  received  such  superb  culmina- 
tion in  Hamlet.  The  spring  of  the  action  is  the  struggle 
between  Titus  Andronicus,  the  Roman  conqueror  of  the 
Goths,  and  Tamora,  the  captive  queen,  the  villain  being 
Aaron,  a  Moor,  the  lover  of  Tamora.  There  is  killing 
right  and  left;  and  Lavinia,  the  daughter  of  Titus,  at 
one  time  appears  with  her  hands  cut  off  and  her  tongue  cut 
out.  The  first  act  has  some  elements  of  strength  and  we 
come  more  than  once  upon  the  Shakespearean  accent,  as 
in  the  eulogy  of  Titus  at  the  tomb  of  the  Andronici :  "  In 
peace  and  honor  rest  you  here,  my  sons !  "  As  the  play 
progresses,  however,  it  becomes  more  and  more  melodra- 
matic in  its  seeking  for  violent  and  sensational  effects. 

Richard  III  (1593),  based  upon  Holinshed,  is  possibly 
also  indebted  to  the  earlier  and  anonymous  The  True 
Tragedy  of  Richard  the  Third,  and  to  the  influence  of 
Marlowe.  The  play  is  unusually  interesting  as  represent- 
ing Shakespeare's  study  of  the  bases  of  appeal  to  an 
Elizabethan  audience.  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  who 
killed  his  two  nephews  and  committed  other  crimes  to  gain 
his  crown,  was  an  excellent  combination  of  hero  and  vil- 
lain; and  the  play  in  its  highly  rhetorical  quality  (as  in 
Richard's  soliloquy,  "JSTow  is  the  winter  of  our  discon- 
tent,'' Clarence's  dream,  the  orations  of  Henry  Tudor, 
Earl  of  Richmond,  and  of  Richard  to  their  troops,  and 
Richard's  call,  ^^  A  horse !  a  horse !  my  kingdom  for  a 
horse !  ")  was  a  strong  forerunner  of  Henry  V  and  Julius 
Caesar.  Early  poetic  and  euphuistic  effects  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  word-play  in  the  dialogues  of  Richard  with  Anne 
and  Elizabeth,  while  the  ghosts  of  those  whom  Richard 


SHAKESPEARE  65 

had  killed  and  who  rise  to  haunt  him  precede  something 
similar  hut  even  more  finely  done  in  Julius  Caesar,  The 
firm  handling  of  the  difficult  fourth  act  moreover  shows  in- 
creasing mastery  of  technique.  Richard  III  is  eminently 
a  work  of  a  young  artist,  but  on  every  page  it  bears  the 
mark  of  Shakespeare,  and  it  is  only  by  reason  of  merit 
that  after  more  than  three  hundred  years  it  still  remains 
one  of  the  dramatist's  most  popular  productions. 

King  John  (1593)  is  especially  interesting  as  afford- 
ing ground  for  a  study  of  the  drama  as  an  aristocratic 
form  of  literature  different  from  such  a  democratic  form 
as  the  novel.  The  play  owed  much  to  The  Troublesome 
Raigne  of  John,  King  of  England  (§17),  and  nowhere 
mentions  Magna  Carta,  the  great  monument  of  the  reign 
to  freedom  and  democracy.  The  Elizabethan  age  with  its 
emphasis  on  nationality  glorified  the  hero,  and  either  a 
good  or  a  bad  man  might  succeed  on  the  stage  if  he  was 
strong  in  quality.  Shakespeare  accordingly  found  excel- 
lent subjects  in  such  men  as  Henry  V  and  Eichard  III, 
but  in  John  he  had  a  weak  subject  and  one  with  which 
under  the  circumstances  he  could  not  possibly  succeed  so 
well.  Constance,  the  mother  of  Arthur,  and  the  patriotic 
Faulconbridge  are  strong  characterizations,  however;  and 
the  dialogue  at  the  beginning  of  Act  IV,  in  which  Arthur 
pleads  to  Hubert  de  Burgh,  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic 
and  powerful  in  the  national  literature. 

Richard  II  (1594),  while  not  quite  so  rhetorical  as 
Richard  III  and  hence  not  so  unusually  popular,  is  fre- 
quently more  delicately  poetic  and  especially  shows  advance 
in  the  subtle  art  of  characterization.  This  is  best  seen 
in  the  interpretation  of  Eichard  himself.  His  "  love  of 
the  spectacular  and  his  enjoyment  of  his  own  emotions 


66      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  EIsTOLISH  DRAMA 

even  of  misery  and  despair,  along  witli  his  tendency  to 
substitute  fluent  and  poetical  utterance  for  action,  are  all 
the  conception  of  the  dramatist."  ^  Characteristic  also 
is  the  portrayal  of  his  vanity  at  the  time  of  his  abdica- 
tion, when  he  calls  for  a  mirror  in  order  that  he  might 
read  the  marks  of  sorrow  on  his  face,  only  to  dash  this 
upon  the  ground  in  a  fit  of  rage.  Toward  the  end  of  the 
play,  Richard  rises  in  dignity;  and  the  scenes  of  his 
farewell  to  his  queen  and  his  death  are  in  the  vein  of 
genuine  tragedy.  The  two  uncles  of  Eichard  and  his 
cousin,  Henry  Bolingbroke,  are  also  strongly  portrayed; 
and  the  speech  of  John  of  Gaunt  on  the  glory  of  England 
is  typical  of  the  dramatist's  appeal  to  the  patriotism  of 
the  people  of  his  time. 

Word-play,  conceits,  and  a  highly  lyrical  character  com- 
bme  to  give  Romeo  and  Jvl^H  an  early  date  among  Shake- 
speare's plays.  It  has  been  customary  to  give  1592  as 
the  date  of  a  first  version,  and  1597  as  that  of  a  revision. 
In  general  the  euphuism  and  the  rhyme  indicate  early 
work,  while  the  dramatic  technique  and  the  development 
of  character  denote  more  mature  workmanship.  The  story 
was  drawn  ultimately  from  the  Italian ;  but  Shakespeare's 
immediate  source  was  the  poem  of  Romeus  and  Juliet  by 
Arthur  Brooke  (1562).  The  dramatist,  while  finding 
almost  every  detail  of  his  action  in  the  materials  at  hand, 
nevertheless  again  and  again  placed  upon  the  story  his 
mastertouch.  The  great  power  in  characterization  that  has 
now  come  to  him  is  best  seen  in  his  portrayal  of  the  un- 
folding of  the  womanhood  of  Juliet  under  the  influence  of 
her  great  love ;  but  the  poetic  Mercutio  and  the  comic  figure 
of  the  nurse  are  also  eminently  Shakespearean.    The  com- 

•  Neilson. 


SHAKESPEARE  67 

pression  of  time,  the  emphasis  on  unity,  and  the  swiftness 
of  the  movement  of  the  play  are  all  noteworthy,  and  the 
first  act  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  examples  of  dra- 
matic exposition  in  all  literature.  The  characterization 
of  Tybalt  in  this  act,  in  view  of  his  later  combat  with 
Komeo,  and  the  fact  that  Mercutio,  who  helps  to  lighten 
the  earlier  scenes,  hastens  the  fall  of  the  tragedy  in  the 
banishment  of  Romeo,  are  only  two  of  many  examples  of 
Shakespeare's  ripening  artistry.  The  very  essence  of  the 
play  moreover  is  poetry.  Sometimes  this  takes  the  form 
of  a  mere  figure  of  speech,  but  at  other  times  it  is  the 
outburst  of  tremendous  passion.  The  romantic  sentiment, 
the  skilful  workmanship,  the  brilliant  poetry,  and  the 
strong  development  of  character  in  the  course  of  the  play, 
have  all  combined  deservedly  to  make  Romeo  and  Juliet 
one  of  the  most  appealing  dramas  ever  given  to  the  world. 
31.  Plays  of  Second  Period. — In  the  plays  of  his  second 
period  Shakespeare  shows  that  he  has  become  full  master 
of  his  art,  and  with  the  urbanity  and  poise  of  one  who  has 
learned  to  look  at  life  and  see  it  whole  he  devotes  him- 
self mainly  to  comedy.  All  traces  of  apprenticeship  and 
imitatioxi  disappear  from  his  work.  "  If  his  portrayal  of 
Shylock  sliows  the  mfiueuce  of  Marlowe's  Jew  of  Malta, 
it  is  in  no  sense  derivative,  and  it  is  the  last  appearance  in 
Shakespeare's  work  of  characterization  clearly  dependent 
upon  the  plays  of  his  predecessors.  However  much  Shake- 
speare's choice  of  themes  may  have  been  determined  by  the 
public  taste  or  by  the  work  of  his  fellows,  in  the  creation 
of  character  he  is  henceforth  his  own  master.  Having 
acquired  this  mastery,  he  uses  it  to  depict  life  in  its  most 
joyous  aspect.  For  the  time  being  he  dwells  little  upon 
men's  failure  and  sorrows.     He  does  not  ignore   life's 


68      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

darker  side, — he  loved  life  too  "well  for  that,  but  he  uses  it 
merely  as  a  background  for  pictures  of  youth  and  happi- 
ness and  success."  * 

A  Midsummer  Night's  Dreamji  (1695),  called  by  Pro^ 
fessor  Barrett  Wendell  "  Shakespeare's  first  declaration 
of  artistic  consciousness,"  holds  together  three  plots:  (1) 
that  of  the  complicated  loves  of  fwo  men  and  two  women, 
(2)  that  of  the  quarrel  and  reconciliation  of  the  king  and 
queen  of  fairies,  and  (3)  that  of  the  subplay  of  Bottom 
and  his  amiable  companions.  The  problem  offered  the 
dramatist  was  to  bring  together  the  court  of  Athens,  the 
fairies  of  the  woods,  and  the  common  artisans  of  the  town. 
To  solve  it  he  puts  the  play  into  the  remote  past,  and  every- 
thing becomes  possible  when  the  fairies  sport  by  moon- 
light in  the  woods.  To  them  it  is  given  to  reconcile  the 
conflicting  elements  in  the  play;  yet,  as  they  must  pos- 
sess an  interest  of  their  own,  the  dramatist  introduces  the 
complication  between  Oberon  and  Titania,  making  both  in 
love  with  an  Indian  boy.  The  device  of  a  play  within  a 
play  is  used  to  great  advantage,  and  it  has  commonly 
been  supposed  that  in  the  strange  shifts  to  which  Quince 
is  reduced  Shakespeare  was  satirizing  the  poor  scenery  of 
the  stage  of  his  time.  Over  all,  however,  is  the  fine 
sympathy  of  the  master,  given  in  the  words  of  Theseus: 
"  The  best  in  this  kind  are  but  shadows ;  and  the  worst 
are  no  worse,  if  imagination  amend  them." 

The  Merchant  of  Venice  (1595)  is  distinguished  by  its 
wealth  of  characterization  and  its  unusual  care  in  plotting. 
Shylock  and  Portia  are  outstanding  characters,  but  Shy- 
lock,  it  seems,  was  long  regarded  as  a  comic  figure,  and 

*  Durham  in  MacCracken,  Pierce,  and  Durham :  An  Introduction  to 
Shakespeare,  153. 


SHAKESPEARE  69 

certainly  until  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  he  was 
presented  on  the  stage  in  a  red  beard.     Other  characters, 
however,  especially  Lorenzo,  Gratiano,  Morocco,  Arragon, 
Jessica,  and  Launcelot,  are  also  powerfully  drawn  and 
the  effect  is  never  that  of  detachment  but  of  several  strong 
figures  working  together  to  produce  an  harmonious  whole. 
This  quality  of  unity  is  further  exemplified  in  the  skil- 
ful weaving  together  of  three  entirely  unrelated  threads  of 
plot,  those  of  the  bond,  the  caskets,  and  the  ring.    Portia, 
around  whom  the  last  two  are  woven  from  the  first,  in  the 
fourth  act  dominates  also  the  story  of  the  bond.    Over  all 
is  the  veil  of  lofty  poetry;  and  whether  the  situation  is 
that  of  Shylock  detailing  the  indignities  he  has  suffered, 
or  Launcelot  voicing  his  latest  jest,  or  Lorenzo  and  Jessica 
strolling  in  the  moonlight,  the  effect  is  still  the  same,  that 
of  a  superb  example  of  insight  into  nature  and  of  high 
dramatic  craftsmanship. 

The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  '(1596)  seems  to  have  been 
built  on  an  earlier  play  of  imknown  authorship.  The  Tam- 
ing of  a  Bhreiv,  and  ultimately  to  have  received  some  sug- 
gestions from  Gascoigne's  Supposes.  The  main  story  is 
that  of  a  wilful  and  ungovernable  young  woman  who  is 
subdued  by  a  husband  who  assumes  a  temper  even  more 
wilful  and  ungovernable  than  hers.  The  situations  are 
frequently  those  of  farce,  but  the  strongest  scenes  are  strik- 
ingly realistic  in  their  effect.  It  is  by  no  means  certain 
that  Shakespeare  wrote  the  whole  of  the  play,  and  even 
those  parts  that  were  his  were  hardly  of  such  quality  as  to 
test  his  greatest  powers.  The  induction  dealing  with  the 
drunken  tinker,  Christopher  Sly,  was  taken  from  an 
earlier  play  on  the  theme,  but  was  so  improved  by  Shake- 
speare as  to  be  of  distinct  charm  and  excellence. 


70      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

The  source  of  the  two  parts  of  Henry  IV  (1597)  was 
naturally  Holiushed,  though  Shakespeare  seems  to  have 
received  some  suggestions  from  a  play  of  the  period.  The 
Famous  Victories  of  Henry  V,  The  first  part  deals  with 
the  revolt  of  the  Percies,  in  which  Hotspur  is  the  brilliant 
figure  until  he  is  killed  by  Prince  Henry.  The  second, 
largely  episodic  in  character,  leads  to  the  death  of 
Henry  IV  and  the  final  elevation  of  the  Prince  as  king. 
The  supreme  creation  of  the  plays  is  Falstaff,  one  of  the 
greatest  comic  figures  in  all  literature.  "  He  is  an  incar- 
nation of  joy  for  whom  moral  laws  do  not  exist."  ^  He  has 
the  strange  faculty  of  making  vices  appear  as  foibles.  We 
smile  alike  at  his  conception  of  honor  and  his  questioning 
of  his  recruits,  and  when  at  last  he  is  cast  aside  by  his 
old  companion,  now  the  new  king,  we  can  not  help  sym- 
pathizing with  him  as  with  a  friend. 

The  sources  of  Henry  V  (1598)  were  the  same  as  those 
for  the  two  parts  of  Henry  IV.  There  is  original  work 
in  the  play,  however,  as  in  the  English  lesson  that  Henry 
gives  the  Erench  princess  and  the  development  of  the 
character  of  Pistol.  If  the  doubtful  Henry  VIII  be  not 
considered,  Henry  V  is  Shakespeare's  last  effort  in  the 
field  of  the  chronicle,  and  in  his  valedictory  to  the  form 
he  gave  his  final  portrayal  of  the  ideal  English  King. 
The  drama  relies  for  its  great  merit  upon  its  rhetoric 
and  declamation,  seen  to  best  advantage  in  the  speeches  of 
the  strong  central  figure.  It  is  not  without  its  finer 
poetry,  however,  as  in  the  description  of  the  sailing : 

Behold  the  threaden  sails. 
Borne  with  the  invisible  and  creeping  wind, 

•  Durham 


SHAKESPEARE  71 

Draw  the  huge  bottoms  through  the  furrow'd  sea, 
Breayling  the  lofty  surge.* 

The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (1598)  is  the  only  play 
in  which  Shakespeare  deals  primarily  with  people  of  the 
middle  class  and  the  only  comedy  whose  setting  is  alto- 
gether in  England,  There  is  a  tradition,  well  supported 
by  internal  evidence,  that  he  wrote  the  play  in  little  more 
than  a  fortnight  at  the  request  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  who, 
delighted  by  the  Falstaff  of  the  historical  plays,  desired 
to  see  this  character  in  the  toils  of  love.  The  main  plot 
accordingly  deals  with  the  adventures  of  Ealstaff  with 
Mistress  Ford  and  Mistress  Page,  while  the  subplot  is  con- 
cerned with  the  love  affairs  of  Anne  Page.  Falstaff  ia 
by  no  means  the  same  figure  as  in  Henry  IV.  He  indeed 
resembles  the  other  Ealstaif  in  size,  cupidity,  and  con- 
tempt for  the  vulgar;  but  he  differs  from  him  in  that  ha 
is  never  master  of  the  situation  in  which  he  is  placed. 
Other  characters  also  remain  clearly  in  the  mind.  Ford 
is  something  more  than  the  conventional  jealous  husband, 
and  Slender  has  proved  to  be  a  part  of  more  than  ordinary 
Btage  capabilities.  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  if  com- 
pared with  the  great  comedies  that  followed  it,  at  once 
impresses  us  as  belonging  to  an  entirely  different  order  of 
work.  If  taken  for  what  it  is,  however,  a  rollicking,  good- 
natured  play  bordering  on  farce,  it  appears  as  a  highly 
successful  achievement. 

In  Much  Ado  about  Nothing  (1599)  Shakespeare  has 
used  for  his  main  plot  a  situation  that  comes  very  close 
to  the  tragic.     "  Don  Pedro,"  the  Prince  of  Arragon,  we 

"  Compare  with  this  the  song  in  BrowTiing's  Paracelsus,  "  Over  the 
sea  our  galleys  went,"  and  "  0  set  the  sails,"  in  Stephen  Phillips'i 
Ulysses. 


72      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

are  informed,  ^^  hath  bestowed  much  honour  on  a  young 
Florentine  called  Claudio/'  Don  Juan,  however,  the  vil- 
lainous half-brother  of  the  Prince,  has  made  this  same 
Claudio  believe  that  Hero,  his  intended  bride,  is  unfaith- 
ful, so  much  so  that  he  is  led  to  reject  her  at  the  very 
steps  of  the  altar.  It  is  typical  of  Shakespeare's  art  that 
he  does  not  permit  this  painful  situation  unduly  to  possess 
the  scene.  The  leading  woman  of  the  play  is  not  Hero, 
but  her  cousin,  the  great  wit  Beatrice.  This  lady  is  most 
famous  for  her  combats  with  Benedick,  a  young  lord  of 
Padua,  the  two  being  simply  a  high  development  of  the 
Rosalind  and  Biron  of  Loves  Labour's  Lost.  Beatrice 
shows  her  true  quality,  however,  by  her  firm  faith  in 
Hero ;  she  at  length  appeals  to  Benedick  for  assistance,  and 
when  the  mystery  is  cleared  their  love  is  sealed.  Humor 
of  another  sort  is  afforded  by  Dogberry,  the  constable 
whose  lot  it  is  to  untie  tangles  in  the  lives  of  those  far 
higher  than  himself  in  worldly  station.  When  all  is  over 
one  remembers  not  so  much  the  credulity  of  Claudio  as  the 
fine  humor  and  the  still  finer  humanity  of  Beatrice  and 
Dogberry. 

As  You  Like  It  (1599)  was  based  upon  Lodge's  prose 
tale,  Rosalynde,  which  in  turn  was  indebted  to  the  pseudo- 
Chaucerian  Tale  of  Gamelyn,  though  there  is  no  evidence 
that  Shakespeare  made  use  of  the  ultimate  source.  Re- 
jecting Lodge's  euphuism,  the  dramatist  retained  most  of 
the  pastoral  characteristics  of  the  prose  story,  such  as  the 
lovesick  shepherd,  the  hanging  or  carving  of  verses  on 
trees,  and  the  figure  of  Hymen.  Omitting  much  that  was 
not  essentially  refined,  he  added  such  characters  as  Jaques, 
Amiens,  and  Touchstone,  and  introduced  higher  motives 
for  the  action  of  the  drama.     There  is  a  careful  weaving 


SHAKESPEARE  73 

together  of  serious  and  comic  elements  in  the  play,  a  fine 
touch  of  satire  is  evident  throughout,  and  the  idyllic  char- 
acter of  the  whole  never  fails  to  arrest  attention.  Kosalind 
is  one  of  Shakespeare's  most  charming  women,  Jaques 
is  "  a  sentimentalist,  but  not  a  bad-hearted  egoist,"  and 
Touchstone  is  the  wittiest  of  all  the  dramatist's  fools.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  play  suffers  from  insufficient  change 
of  scenery,  a  fault  more  apparent  to  us  of  course  than  to 
the  Elizabethans;  and  the  last  act^  with  four  pairs  of 
lovers  rapidly  falling  in  love,  while  it  has  the  excuse  of  a 
masque  of  Hymen,  can  hardly  fail  to  appear  a  little 
mechanical  to  a  modern  spectator.  In  its  breadth  of  view 
and  its  insight  into  nature,  however^  ^5  You  Like  It 
remains  one  of  Shakespeare's  ripest  productions. 

Twelfth  Night  (1600)  might  well  claim  to  be  the  finest 
of  all  Shakespeare's  comedies.  The  plot  was  drawn  from 
a  variety  of  sources  and  few  situations  in  the  play  are 
essentially  new.  Again  and  again  one  comes  upon  the 
shreds  and  patches  of  old  garments,  but  he  finds  that  they 
have  all  been  so  skilfully  woven  together  as  to  make  the 
most  beautiful  of  costumes.  K'ever  were  the  high  comedy 
of  romance  and  the  low  comedy  of  ordinary  English  life 
more  perfectly  blended,  two  distinct  groups  of  characters 
meeting  with  the  lady  Olivia.  The  sentimentalism  of  the 
Duke,  the  delicate  humor  and  the  grace  of  Viola,  the 
boisterousness  of  Sir  Toby,  the  sheer  joy  in  life  of  Maria, 
the  brainlessness  of  Sir  Andrew,  the  lyricism  of  Feste, 
and  the  fine  satire  on  the  Puritans  in  the  self-importance 
of  Malvolio,  all  work  together  in  harmonious  accord. 
Under  all,  however,  is  a  note  of  tenderness  and  seriousness, 
a  sign  of  the  coming  tragedies.  Twelfth  Night  was  a 
superb  tour  de  force.    On  it  Shakespeare  lavished  all  his 


U     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

resources  as  a  dramatic  artist  and  by  sheer  force  of  crafts- 
manship he  produced  a  masterpiece.  In  the  realm  of 
romantic  comedy  he  could  produce  more  but  he  could 
hardly  go  higher.  What  remained  for  him  now  was  ^*  fate, 
free  will,  and  foreknowledge  absolute." 

32.  Plays  of  Third  Period. — In  the  third  period  of  his 
dramatic  activity  Shakespeare  rose  to  his  greatest  heights 
as  a  literary  artist,  and  in  his  search  for  the  deeper  motives 
that  govern  human  life  he  naturally  emphasized  tragedy. 
Before  we  consider  the  representative  productions  of  this 
period,  however,  it  is  well  to  remark  three  so-called 
comedies,  Troilus  and  Cressida,  AlVs  Well  that  Ends 
Well,  and  Measure  for  Measure,  that  do  not  in  every  case 
by  a  year  or  two  precede  Julius  Caesar  and  Haralet,  but 
that  in  one  way  or  another  are  characterized  by  a  peculiarly 
gloomy,  serious,  and  even  bitter  cast  of  thought,  and  that 
together  form  an  easy  transition  from  the  greatest  comedies 
to  the  greatest  tragedies.  When  one  looks  into  the  nature 
of  these  three  plays,  however,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  they 
are  among  the  least  popular  of  the  dramatist's  produc- 
tions.   Each  one  is  in  its  own  way  a  study  in  disillusion. 

Troilus  and  Cressida  (1601),  in  small  part  at  least 
(and  especially  as  regards  the  fifth  act),  has  been  thought 
to  be  by  another  hand  than  Shakespeare's.  The  great 
dramatist  himself,  however,  was  undoubtedly  mainly  re- 
sponsible for  the  work.  The  play  deals  with  the  famous 
story  of  Troilus  and  Cressida,  to  which  Shakespeare  had 
already  made  passing  reference  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice 
and  Twelfth  Night,  and  which  Chaucer  had  used  in  his 
masterly  character  study,  Troilus  and.  Criseyde,  It  is  well 
to  keep  in  mind  Shakespeare's  two  previous  references. 
In  the  first  (3/.  of  V.,  V,  1)  he  referred  to  the  lovers 


SHAKESPEARE  75 

at  the  heiglit  of  their  romance;  in  the  second  (T.  N.,  Ill, 
1)  he  makes  mention  of  Cressida's  being  a  beggar,  such 
a  state  being  the  reward  of  her  unfaithfulness."^  In  the 
present  play  Troilus  learns  of  Cressida's  later  conduct  and 
unsuccessfully  attempts  to  take  revenge  on  Diomedes.  The 
love  story  is  surpassed  in  interest,  however,  by  the  por- 
trayal of  conditions  in  the  Greek  and  Trojan  camps  at 
the  siege  of  Troy.  Especially  graphic  is  the  sketch  of 
the  sulking  of  Achilles.  This  on  one  hand  gives  occasion 
for  the  sage  advice  of  Ulysses  (note  ''  Time  hath,  by  lord, 
a  wallet  at  his  back")  and  on  the  other  for  the  railing 
of  Thersites,  a  character  taken  from  Homer  whose  pos- 
sibilities as  developed  by  Shakespeare  have  generally  been 
only  dimly  realized.  Achilles  finally  slays  Hector,  how- 
ever, and  Troilus  resolves  to  avenge  his  brother's  death. 

The  source  of  AlVs  ^yell  tlmt  Ends  ^Yell  (1602)  was  a 
story  in  the  Decameron  that  came  to  Shakespeare  by  way 
of  Painter's  Palace  of  Pleasure,  The  story  is  a  strange 
one  of  a  noble-minded  young  woman  who  falls  in  love  with 
a  man  hardly  worthy  of  her,  who  is  insulted  by  this  man, 
who  places  herself  in  a  dangerous  and  compromising  situa- 
tion in  order  to  win  his  loyalty,  and  who  at  length  wins 
him,  having  satisfied  even  the  hard  conditions  that  he 
placed  on  her.  The  dramatist  has  so  ennobled  the  char- 
acter of  the  heroine,  Helena,  as  to  make  her  one  of  the 
truest  and  most  famous  women  in  his  plays.  The  scene 
in  which  she  confesses  her  love  to  the  sympathetic  old 
Countess  of  Rousillon,  the  mother  of  Bertram,  is  singu- 
larly tender  and  beautiful. 

Measure  for  Measure  (1603)  has  much  connection  in 
theme  with  AlVs  Well  tlmt  Ends  Well,  but  the  idealism  of 

'  Note  Robert  Henryson's  poem,  The  Testament  of  Cresseid. 


76     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Isabella  also  betokens  connection  witb  Julius  Caesar  and 
Hamlet,  both  of  "which  plays  were  in  the  mind  of  the  artist 
about  the  same  time.  Shakespeare  borrowed  the  main 
story  from  George  Whetstone,  author  of  a  play,  Promos 
and  Cassandra  (15Y8),  who  in  turn  borrowed  from  Cin- 
thio's  HecatomwuitJiL  Measure  for  Measure  is  a  vivid 
satire  on  the  evils  of  society.  A  young  man,  Claudio,  is 
guilty  under  the  law  of  a  grave  social  crime.  Angelo, 
the  magistrate,  places  before  Isabella,  the  sister  of  Claudio, 
the  dilemma  of  saving  her  brother^s  life  by  giving  herself 
to  him  or  saving  her  honor  and  permitting  her  brother  to 
be  led  to  execution.  Claudio  would  save  his  life  at  the 
expense  of  his  sister's  honor,  so  that  in  a  sordid  world 
Isabella  is  forced  to  find  her  way  to  the  light  alone.  Hav- 
ing clearly  presented  his  problem,  Shakespeare  ends  the 
play  with  Isabella's  losing  neither  her  brother  nor  her 
honor;  but  the  atmosphere  is  gloomy  throughout.  Singu- 
larly enough,  however.  Measure  for  Measure  is  relieved 
by  many  touches  of  the  highest  poetry. 

Julius  Caesar  (1599  ?)  was  once  termed  by  a  great 
scholar  *  "  Shakespeare's  best  play  of  the  second  class." 
What  is  meant  is  obvious,  that  in  this  production  the  strong 
points  are  the  surface  merits  of  brilliant  rhetoric  and 
declamation,  qualities  quite  different  from  the  high  poetry 
and  the  more  searching  characterization  of  the  great  plays 
immediately  following.  Marcus  Brutus,  the  central  figure 
of  the  drama,  is  a  forerunner  of  Hamlet  as  a  study  of 
the  scholarly  and  idealistic  temperament  face  to  face  with 
the  realities  of  the  world;  and  throughout  the  play  runs 
the  irony  of  fate.  Brutus  is  drawn  into  a  conspiracy  by 
his  friend  Cassius,  a  practical  man  of  affairs,  and  by  the 

» F.  J.  Child. 


SHAKESPEARE  77 

sheer  force  of  his  dignity  and  unquestioned  honor  domi- 
nates everything  within  reach.  In  rapid  succession  he 
makes  three  mistakes:  he  refuses  to  bind  the  conspirators 
by  an  oath  (and  somebody  divulges  the  plan) ;  he  rejects 
the  power  of  oratory  as  represented  in  Cicero  (which 
same  power  as  used  by  Antony  later  overcomes  him),  and 
he  refuses  to  kill  Antony  along  with  Caesar  (Antony 
later  becoming  the  concrete  instrument  in  his  overthrow). 
The  dramatist  was  especially  skilful  in  handling  the 
fourth  act,  always  a  difficult  one  for  an  Elizabethan  play- 
wright. When  after  Antony's  oration  the  action  seemed 
to  be  hastening  to  its  conclusion  too  rapidly,  he  intro- 
duced the  quarrel  between  Brutus  and  Cassius,  and  the 
ghost  scene.  The  first  of  these  episodes  has  been  con- 
sidered extraneous  and  the  second  mere  dramaturgy;  but 
a  practical  dramatist  was  working  for  theatrical  effec- 
tiveness, and  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  success  of  his 
achievement.  Again  and  again  lines  taken  almost  bodily 
from  E'orth's  Plutarch,  touched  by  the  magic  of  the  master, 
leap  into  being;  and  after  three  hundred  years  of  chang- 
ing taste  Julius  Caesar  still  remains  one  of  Shakespeare's 
most  popular  plays. 

Hamlet  (1602,  second  version  1604)  is  a  supreme 
achievement  in  dramaturgy,  but  with  such  insight  into 
nature  did  the  artist  work  that  at  the  same  time  that  he 
satisfied  the  popular  taste  of  his  day  he  also  produced  a 
world  masterpiece.  The  play  is  eminently  a  "  tragedy  of 
blood  "  and  accordingly  has  affinity  with  such  productions 
as  Titus  Andronicus  and  Kyd's  The  Spanish  Tragedy. 
With  the  latter  play  in  fact  its  connections  are  especially 
close,  Kyd's  tragedy  dealing  with  the  revenge  of  a  father 
for  the  death  of  a  son,  and  Shakespeare's  reversing  this 


78  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OP  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

theme.  In  such  things  as  this  motive  of  revenge,  and  the 
use  of  the  ghost,  the  dumb-show,  the  play  "within  a  play, 
and  madness  as  a  dramatic  motive,  Shakespeare  was  sim- 
ply employing  old  material;  hut  there  is  nothing  trite 
about  his  finished  product.  By  its  magnificent  phrase  and 
rich  poetry,  its  deep  insight  into  human  passion,  and  its 
deliberate  interplay  of  character  (as  in  the  placing  of  the 
old  pedant  Polonius  by  the  side  of  Hamlet),  the  play 
continues  to  attract  and  baffle.  By  reason  also  of  the  un- 
numbered linguistic,  artistic,  and  ethical  problems  which 
it  has  awakened,  Hamlet  has  gathered  unto  itself  a  vast 
literature  of  its  own.  The  finished  production  is  at  once 
the  admiration  and  the  despair  of  students  of  the  drama 
the  world  over. 

Othello  (1604)  is  Shakespeare's  supreme  achievement 
in  dramatic  technique.  Eor  the  story  he  was  ultimately  in- 
debted  to  the  seventh  novel  of  the  third  decade  of  ( 'uithio'a 
Hecatommithi,  of  which  a  French  translation  was  made 
in  1583-4;  but  he  greatly  improved  on  the  original,  espe- 
cially as  regards  characterization,  taste,  and  workmanship.^ 
The  play  is  a  domestic  tragedy,  singularly  modern  in 
tone,  and  has  the  advantage  of  holding  attention  on  one 
definite  group  of  characters.  The  first  act  in  masterly 
fashion  strikes  the  keynote  of  an  emotional  drama;  the 
second,  emphasizing  the  fact  that  we  are  concerned  not 
with  public  but  domestic  affairs,  shows  lago  not  only 
disgracing  Cassio  but  beginning  to  use  him  in  his  larger 
design  against  Othello  and  Desdemona ;  the  third  act  shows 
Shakespeare's  greatest  villain  working  v/ith  all  the  re- 

•  For  a  brief  statement  of  his  improvement  see  Neilson :  Shake- 
speare's Complete  Works,  934,  Hudson's  Introduction  to  the  plaj^ 
Parrott's  Introduction,  etc. 


SHAKESPEARE  79 

sources  at  his  command  and  succeeding  in  his  purpose; 
the  fourth  act,  already  remarked  as  the  most  difficult  for 
an  Elizabethan  playwright,  shows  no  slackening  of  interest 
but  makes  the  air  more  and  more  heavy  with  impend- 
ing tragedy;  and  the  fifth,  by  its  swift  and  terrible  close, 
especially  shows  the  artist's  improvement  on  his  sources. 
All  of  this  is  done  in  Shakespeare's  dignified  and  poetic 
manner,  and  with  a  tenseness  of  emotion  and  a  sense  of 
dramatic  fitness  never  surpassed.  For  sheer  skill  in  ar- 
rangement, in  the  use  of  the  element  of  suspense,  and  in 
the  play  of  character  upon  character,  Othello  remains 
incomparable. 

King  Lear  (1605)  is  indebted  perhaps  to  several  sources, 
but  prominence  attaches  to  the  play  The  True  Chronicle 
History  of  King  Leir  and  his  Three  Daughters,  and  to  the 
ultimate  source,  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth.  The  drama  is  the 
tragedy  of  old  age,  all  the  more  effective  because  Lear  is 
unreasonable  with  the  peevishness  of  years.  Deceived  as 
he  is  by  his  older  daughters,  Goneril  and  Regan,  it  is 
only  after  days  of  suffering  and  a  terrible  night  of  storm 
that  he  finds  out  the  true  quality  of  Cordelia,  his  young- 
est daughter,  who  loved  him  too  much  to  humor  his  whims 
and  deceive  him.  Eeflecting  the  tragedy  of  Lear  is  the 
skilfully  interwoven  underplot  of  the  nobleman  Gloucester, 
who  for  a  time  seemed  to  favor  his  disloyal  son  Edmund 
and  to  disown  the  more  filial  Edgar.  King  Lear  is  char- 
acterized throughout  by  an  atmosphere  of  lofty  poetry, 
represented  especially  by  the  words  between  Cordelia  and 
Lear  at  the  beginning  of  Act  Y,  Scene  3.  "  There  is  a 
strangely  lyric  element  about  this  great  tragedy,  an  element 
of  heart-broken  emotion  hovering  on  the  edge  of  passionate 
song.     It  is  like  a  great  chorus  in  which  the  victims  of 


80     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

treachery  and  ingratitude  blend  their  denouncing  cries. 
The  tremulous  voice  of  Lear  rises  terrible  above  all  the 
others;  and  to  his  helpless  curses  the  plaintive  satire  of 
the  fool  answers  like  a  mocking  echo  in  halls  of  former 
enjoyment.  Thunder  and  lightning  are  the  fearful  accom- 
paniment of  the  song;  and  like  faint  antiphonal  responses 
from  the  underplot  come  the  voices  of  the  "wronged  Edgar 
and  the  outraged  Gloucester."  ^° 

Macheth  (1606)  is  commonly  given  a  place  with  Harnlet, 
Othello,  and  King  Lear  as  one  of  Shakespeare's  greatest 
productions.  It  is  much  the  shortest  of  the  tragedies, 
however,  shorter  in  fact  than  any  other  play  by  Shake- 
speare except  The  Comedy  of  Errors,  containing  hardly 
two  thousand  lines.  Hamlet,  the  longest  of  the  plays, 
contains  nearly  four  thousand  lines,  and  hence  can  not  be 
performed  in  one  evening  under  modern  conditions  with- 
out excision.  Macheth  most  readily  invites  comparison 
with  two  other  well-known  plays  of  the  third  group,  Antony 
and  Cleopatra  (1608)  and  Coriolanus  (1609).  If  one 
were  disposed  to  strain  matters  a  little,  he  might  consider 
each  one  of  Shakespeare's  great  tragedies  as  a  representa- 
tion of  some  one  of  the  Seven  Deadly  Sins.  Certainly 
King  Lear  is  concerned  with  Anger.  Similarly  Macheth 
stands  for  Envy  (^'vaulting  ambition"),  Antony  and 
Cleopatra  for  Lechery,  and  Coriolanus  for  Pride.  Each 
one  of  these  three  plays  has  a  hero  who  has  some  weakness 
of  character  that  proves  his  undoing,  and  each  one  is  a 
study  in  subjectivity.  While  Lady  Macbeth  to  some  extent 
influences  her  husband  and  Cleopatra  her  lover,  Macbeth 
and  Antony  and  Coriolanus  are  the  architects  of  their  own 

*o  Pierce  in  MacCracken,  Pierce,  and  Durham :  An  Introduction  to 
Shakespeare,  186. 


SHAKESPEARE  81 

fate,  and  all  three  say  plainly,  ^'  The  wages  of  sin  is 
death.''  These  men  are  alike  also  in  that  they  are  short- 
sighted. Antony's  leaving  of  the  sea  of  valor  to  follow 
the  sails  of  Cleopatra  is  characteristic  of  his  action  through- 
out the  play ;  Coriolanus  seems  not  to  realize  that  "  das- 
tard nobles  "  and  people  who  are  "  curs  "  and  ^^  minnows  " 
may  still  have  some  courage  in  their  bosoms ;  and  Macbeth 
is  notorious  for  taking  a  chance  on  "  the  life  to  come." 
In  spite  of  Enobarbus  and  Menenius  moreover,  these  men 
are  different  from  Brutus  and  Hamlet  and  alike  in  this, 
that  no  one  of  them  has  a  friend  close  enough  and  strong 
enough  to  keep  him  from  going  astray.  Instead,  each  one 
offends  some  other  strong  man;  and  Macduff,  Octavius, 
and  Aufidius  become  in  turn  avenging  forces.  The  type 
seems  to  have  been  in  Shakespeare's  mind  for  some  three 
or  four  years,  the  tragedy  in  each  instance  consisting  not 
so  much  in  the  number  of  people  killed  as  in  the  downfall 
of  a  noble  man. 

33.  Plays  of  Fourth  Period. — We  have  already  ob- 
served that  there  were  changing  fashions  in  the  Eliza- 
bethan drama.  Sometimes  Shakespeare  helped  to  make 
these  fashions;  more  frequently  he  followed  the  dictates 
of  popular  taste.  A  case  in  point  is  his  work  in  the  field 
of  "  blood-and-thunder  "  tragedy.  About  1598,  largely 
through  the  work  of  Ben  Jonson,  there  developed  an  em- 
phasis on  realistic  comedy.  To  this  fashion  Shakespeare 
did  not  immediately  respond  except  perhaps  as  it  finds  some 
reflection  in  the  satire  or  realism  of  Troilus  and  Cressidd 
or  Measure  for  Measure;  but  he  did  turn  away  from  pure 
comedy  and  chronicle  plays  to  devote  himself  more  seri- 
ously to  tragedy,  as  we  have  seen.  About  1607,  however, 
with  two  other  contemporaries,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher, 


82      A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

there  began  an  emphasis  on  romantic  tragicomedy  tliat 
inflnenced  him  most  profoundly.  Representative  plays  by 
these  two  dramatists  were  Philasier,  A  King  and  No  King, 
and  The  Maid's  Tragedy.  "  The  realistic  comedies  of 
Jonson  and  Middleton,  which,  along  with  the  great  trag- 
edies of  Shakespeare,  crowd  the  stage  history  of  the  pre- 
ceding ten  years,  had  offered  nothing  similar  to  these 
romances  which  joined  tragic  and  idyllic  material  in  scenes 
of  brilliant  theatrical  effectiveness,  abonnding  in  transi- 
tions from  suspense  to  surprise,  and  culminating  in  tell- 
ing denouements.  ...  In  its  intriguing  courts,  or  in 
nearby  forests  where  the  idyls  are  placed,  love  of  one 
kind  or  another  is  the  ruling  and  vehement  passion,  riding 
high-handed  over  tottering  thrones,  rebellious  subjects, 
usurping  tyrants,  and  checked,  if  checked  at  all,  only  by 
the  unexampled  force  of  honor.  .  .  .  Characterization 
tends  to  become  typical,  and  motives  tend  to  be  based  on 
fixed  conventions.  .  .  .  Cymbeline  in  its  plot  bears  some 
close  resemblances  to  PMlaster,  and  it  seems  likely  that 
Shakespeare  was  adopting  the  methods  and  materials  of  the 
new  romance.  .  .  .  After  Beaumont's  retirement  in 
IGll  or  1612  it  seems  probable  that  Fletcher  and  Shake- 
speare collaborated  on  Henry  VIII  and  The  Two  Nohle 
Kinsman."  ^^  Important  also  in  this  general  connection  is 
the  new  form  of  the  masque,  especially  cultivated  by  Jon- 
son in  co-operation  with  the  architect  Inigo  Jones.  This 
was  an  elaborate  amateur  theatrical  entertainment,  the 
fundamental  element  of  which  seems  to  have  been  dancing 
in  disguise,  and  which  through  dance  and  costume  and 
music  more  and  more  emphasized  symbolism. 

In  this  last  period  three  plays  stand  out  above  others 
'*Neil8on  and  Thomdike:  The  Facts  ahoiit  Shakespeare,  109-10. 


SHAKESPEARE  g3 

more  doubtful:  Cymbeline  (1610),  Thf,  Winter's  Tale 
(1611),  and  The  Tempest  (1611).  For  the  first  of  these 
dramas  Shakespeare  received  some  suggestion  from,  Holin- 
shed;  for  the  second  he  went  to  Greune's  I'andosto;  and 
for  the  third,  receiving  an  idea  from  one  scluh  t,  or  another, 
he  relied  mainly  upon  himself.  In  what  ways  now  do 
these  plays  reflect  the  new  tendencies  ?  First  of  all,  char- 
acterization ceases  to  be  of  prime  importance.  Leontes, 
for  instance,  is  jealous;  but  he  is  by  no  means  as  strong 
a  conception  as  Othello.  Moreover  the  characters  tend  to 
become  types.  Ariel,  Caliban,  Cloten,  and  Prospero  are 
indubitably  allegorical,  while  Posthumus,  lachimo,  Her- 
mione,  Alonzo,  and  Miranda  at  least  have  conventional 
tendencies.  In  The  Tempest  moreover  the  dramatist  em- 
phasizes the  supernatural  element,  and  into  the  fourth  act 
of  this  play  he  thrusts  a  masque,  using  something  also  very 
close  to  a  masque  in  the  dance  of  shepherds  in  The  Winters 
Tale,  j^or  in  yielding  to  new  impulses  does  he  hesitate 
to  leave  some  of  his  old  practices ;  and  in  both  Cymheline 
and  The  Winter  s  Tale  he  shifts  interest  in  the  middle  of 
the  play,  in  Cymlbeline  from  Imogen  and  Posthumus  to 
Belarius  and  the  Princess,  and  in  The  Winter  s  Tale  from 
Leontes  to  Perdita.  In  all  such  ways  as  these  he  exhibits 
a  new  freedom  and  fancy.  That  such  work  is  not  the  result 
of  any  real  loss  of  technical  ability  is  shown  by  the  last 
scene  in  Cymheline,  in  which  there  are  "  crowded  some 
two  dozen  situations  any  one  of  which  would  probably  have 
been  strong  enough  to  carry  a  whole  act."  ^^  In  The  Wiw- 
ters  Tale  moreover  Shakespeare  does  not  mind  introduc- 
ing such  an  imj.^robability  as  the  statue  of  Hermione,  and 
in  The  Tempest  he  idealizes  everything  into  poetry.  Gen- 
^*  Wendell:  William  Shakespeare^  358. 


84      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

erally  then  in  liis  last  period  the  great  dramatist  forsakes 
the  tragic  for  the  romantic,  the  probable  for  the  improb- 
able^  and  the  real  for  the  ideal ;  and  such  even  now  is  the 
sheer  force  of  his  ability  that  he  makes  the  fanciful  essen- 
tially true.  Then,  when  all  is  finished,  like  his  own  Pros- 
pero  the  magician  breaks  his  wand  and  bids  farewell  to 
his  art: 

Our  revels  now  are  ended.     These  our  actors. 
As  I  foretold  you,  were  all  spirits,  and 
Are  melted  into  air,  into  thin  air; 
And,  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  this  vision, 
The  cloud-capp'd  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces. 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself. 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve 
And,  like  this  insubstantial  pageant  faded. 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind.     We  are  such  stuff 
As  dreams  are  made  on,  and  our  little  life 
Is  rounded  with  a  sleep. 

34.  Shakespeare's  Advance  in  his  Art. — Shakespeare's 
plays  afford  an  interesting  field  for  the  study  of  a  drama- 
tist's advance  in  his  work.  The  artist  not  only  gained 
with  practice  greater  skill  in  the  difficult  matter  of  tech- 
nique, but  more  and  more  he  seemed  to  gain  mastery  of  all 
the  resources  of  expression.  In  his  earlier  plays  one  ob- 
serves a  labored  effect  in  his  meter — a  tendency  toward 
monotonousness  in  the  ending  of  lines  with  heavy  syllables. 
Such  a  later  play  as  The  Tempest,  however,  is  marked  by 
ease  and  variety  in  versification.  Shakespeare  also  made 
advance  in  taste.  In  the  years  when  he  was  largely  under 
the  influence  of  Lyly  or  Marlowe  or  other  models  he  some- 
times went  far  afield  for  conceits,  or  cultivated  extrava- 
gance or  bombast;  he  even  appealed  sometimes  to  the 
^^  groundlings  "  of  his  day.    By  the  time  he  wrote  Antony 


SHAKESPEARE  85 

and  Cleopatra,  however,  lie  had  learned  that  he  could  be 
even  gorgeous  in  his  poetic  effects  without  being  need- 
lessly excessive.  In  characterization  also  he  shows  re- 
markable advance.  In  such  an  early  play  as  Love's  La- 
hour  s  Lost  ^'  he  has  not  led  us  into  the  inner  selves  of  his 
men  and  women  at  all,  has  not  seemed  to  realize  that  they 
possess  inner  selves.  At  the  conclusion  we  know  precisely 
as  much  of  them  as  we  should  if  we  had  met  them  at  a 
formal  reception,  and  no  more.''  ^^  We  know  Hamlet, 
Othello,  and  Lady  Macbeth,  however,  just  as  well  as  we 
know  Elizabethan  men  and  women  that  actually  lived. 
Edmund  in  King  Lear  recalls  Richard  III ;  but  whereas 
in  Richard  the  dramatist  satisfied  the  taste  of  the  day  by 
portraying  a  brilliant  rhetorical  figure,  in  Edmund  he 
gives  a  more  complex  study  of  villainy  and  passion.  Espe- 
cially is  his  large  humanity  represented  by  his  humor, 
whether  in  Falstaff  or  Touchstone,  Dogberry  or  Beatrice. 
Finally,  in  pure  technique  he  became  the  artist  incom- 
I^arable.  In  The  Tiro  Gentlemen  of  Verona  he  wasted 
time;  in  Othello  every  word  is  in  place.  The  whole 
phenomenon  of  his  development  is  as  interesting  as  it  is 
unique. 

35.  The  Tradition  of  Shakespeare.—^^  To  him  that  hath 
shall  be  given,"  and  it  was  but  natural  that  in  the  course 
of  literary  history  such  a  well-known  playwright  as  Shake- 
speare should  have  been  credited  with  many  things  that  he 
never  wrote.  The  question  is  complicated  by  the  very  com- 
mon practice  of  collaboration  on  the  part  of  Elizabethan 
dramatists.  We  have  from  time  to  time  remarked  certain 
plays  (Titus  Andronicus,  1,  2,  and  3  Henry  VI,  Timon  of 

"Pierce  in  MacCracken,  Pierce,  and  Durham:  An  Introduction  to 
Shakespeare,  91. 


66      A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

■Athens,  Pericles,  and  Henry  VIII)  which  are  generally 
classed  with  Shakespeare's  works,  but  which  awaken  grave 
questions  as  to  collaborative  effort,  some  students  even 
insisting  that  with  such  a  work  as  1  Henry  VI  he  had 
nothing  at  all  to  do.  The  so-called  Shakespeare  Apo- 
crypha accordingly  starts  one  on  an  interesting  but 
baffling  trail,  and  one  that  raises  all  sorts  of  questions. 
"Almost  every  class  of  play  is  here  represented,  and 
one  class — that  of  domestic  tragedy — finds  in  Arden  of 
Fevershnm  and  in  A  York^lii ,.  Tragedy,  two  of  its  most 
illustrious  examples.  The  Senecan  tragedy  of  vengeance 
is  represented  by  Lorrine;  the  history  or  chronicle  play  by 
Edward  III,  The  First  Part  of  the  Contention,  The 
True  Tragedie,  The  Troithlesoiv  Raigne  of  John,  King  of 
Englntid,  Sir  Thomas  More,  and  Cromv^ell,  and,  less  pre- 
cisely, by  The  Birth  of  Merlin  and  Faire  Em.  The  ro- 
mantic comedy  of  the  period  is  illustrated  by  Mucedorus, 
The  Merry  Devill  and  The  Two  Nohle  Kinsme7i,\  while 
The  London  Prodigall  and  The  Puritane  are  types  of  that 
realistic  bourgeois  comedy  which  .  .  .  won  a  firm  hold 
upon  the  aft'ections  of  the  play-going  community."  ^*  The 
Two  Nohle  Kinsmen,  which  makes  the  strongest  claim  of 
all  of  these  plays,  was  based  on  the  story  of  Palamon  and 
Arcite  in  Chaucer's  Knight's  Tale  and  published  in  1634 
an  the  work  of  "  tlie  memorable  worthies  of  their  time,  Mr. 
John  Fletcher  and  Mr.  William  Shakespeare,  Gent." 

Of  the  plays  undoubtedly  Shakespeare's  there  are  no 
manuscripts  that  have  come  down  to  us.  In  general  while 
a  writer  of  the  day  bestowed  care  on  the  form  of  a  poem 
that  was  to  be  given  to  the  public,  he  seems  to  have  felt 

"Moorman:  "Plays  of  Uncertain  Authorship  Attributed  to 
Shakispeare,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  V,  266. 


SHAKESPEARE  87 

that  lie  had  no  further  interest  in  a  play  that  he  sold  to  a 
theatrical  company.  One  or  two  exceptions  occur,  how- 
ever; and  we  can  see  both  the  purpose  of  the  author  and 
the  ridicule  he  awakened  when  in  1^1 6  Ben  Jonson  issued 
a  folio  edition  of  his  ^'  Works.''  Before  1623  seventeen 
of  fehakespeare's  plays  appeared  in  single  quarto  editions. 
In  this  year,  however,  two  of  old  colleagues  and  friends, 
John  Henins^e  and  Henry  Condell,  with  considerable 
pains  brought  out  what  is  now  knovni  as  the  first  folio 
edition  of  the  dramatist's  work,  i^r  the  twenty  plays 
that  it  printed  for  the  first  time  the  Eirst  Folio  must  of 
course  be  the  chief  authority ;  for  the  remaining  seventeen 
it  must  sometimes  share  authority  with  the  quartos.  A 
second  folio,  a  reprint  of  the  first,  appeared  in  1032 ;  a 
third,  of  ICO.],  was  reprinted  in  10(54  with  the  addition  of 
Perichs  and  six  even  more  dottbtful  plays;  and  the  fourth 
folio  appeared  in  1685.  In  1709  Mcholas  Eowe  set  a 
high  standard  for  later  editors  by  an  edition  in  which  he 
modernized  spelling^:,  corrected  grammar,  added  in  many 
cases  lists  of  characters,  and  made  many  emendations. 
In  1725  Al^xn-nder  Pnpe  brought  ottt  his  mtich  discussed 
edition.  He  had  excellent  materials  on  which  to  work, 
but  he  lacked  the  sympathy  with  his  subject  necessary 
in  an  editor  and  he  made  many  mistakes.  His  errors  were 
exposed  in  Lewis  Theobald's  Shalcespeare  Restored 
(1726),  which  study  was  demoted  mainly  to  Hamlet, 
Pope  replied  by  placing  Theobald  in  the  Dundad  and 
succeeding  in  obscuring  his  reputation  nntil  comparatively 
recent  years,  when  modem  scholarship  has  given  him  the 
recognition  he  deserves.  Since  the  days  of  Pope  and 
Theobald  editions  have  appeared  with  increasing  fre- 
quency, and  it  would  now  take  pages  merely  to  enumerate 


88     A  SHORT  HISTOllY  OF  THE  EXaLTSH  DRAMA 

these.^^  Special  importance  attaches,  however,  to  the 
monumental  Variorum  Edition,  which  began  to  be  issued 
in  1871  by  H.  H.  Eurness,  which  is  still  carried  forward 
by  his  son,  and  which  attempts  to  digest  all  the  criticism 
on  a  particular  play.  The  best  single  volume  of  recent 
years  is  the  Cambridge  edition  edited  by  William  Allan 
JS'eilson.  The  ISTeilson  text  is  the  result  of  independent 
study  and  is  used  as  the  basis  of  the  separate  little  volumes 
in  the  "  Tudor  Shakespeare." 

The  question  of  Shakespeare's  reputation  and  of  criti- 
cism based  upon  him  of  course  opens  a  wide  field — one 
so  vast  in  fact  that  only  slight  reference  can  be  made  to 
it  here.  TJie  high  points  in  the  study  .are  the  Kestoration 
attitude  that  sought  to  refine  Shakespeare's  works,  the  ra- 
tionalistic and  didactic  point  of  view  represented_by  such 
a  critie  as  Rymer,  the  attitude  of  the  Erenjch  classicist 
Voltaire,  the  interest  that  developed  so  rapidly  in  Germany 
near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  rather  idola- 
trous admiration  at  the  height  of  romanticism  in  England, 
and  more  recent  studies  of  the  dramatist's  mind  and  art. 
An  interesting  field  of  course  is  that  of  actual  presenta- 
tion on  the  stage  in  England,  iu  America,  and  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe;  while  hardly  less  fascinating  to  the 
earnest  student  is  the  influence  in  music  and  painting. 
Societies  are  still  formed  for  the  study  of  the  dramatist's 
works,  his  plays  have  a  high  place  in  colleges  and  high 
schools  in  the  United  States,  and  even  more  in  the  future 
than  in  the  past  he  seems  destined  to  be  a  force  linking 
the  culture  of  America  with  that  of  England  and  the 
world. 

36.   Shakespeare's    Greatness — Shakespeare    was    the 

"  See  C.  E.  E.  L.,  V,  472-84. 


SHAKESPEARE  89 

central  figure  of  the  Elizabeth aii__(Lr am a^  contemporary 
with  both  Ljly  and  Fletcher.^  He  is  not  to  be  regarded  as 
some  great  abnormal  or  isolated  genius,  but  as  eminently 
a  man  of  his  age.  He_came  upon  the  scene  at  a  time 
when_national  feeling  ran  higii-and,.wlien  all  England 
was  uplifted  by  a  spirit  qfjhope.  One  common  custom 
of  the  period"  was  for  a  man  to  use  stories  and  plots 
wherever  he  could  find  them,  so  that  one  of  the  first  im- 
pressions that  one  gains  from  a  study  of  Shakespeare's 
sources  is  that  of  something  very  like  plagiarism.  We  can 
best  measure  his  success,  however,  when  we  place  his 
achievement  by  the  side  of  that  of  others  who  had  at  hand 
the  same  materials  that  he  had.  He  then  appears  more 
and  more  as  the_uneguakd  artist  in ieclmiqn.e. and  char- 
acterization. I^^^one -eke-had.. such  insight  into  human 
motive;  no  one  else  has  created  characters^o  lifelike. 
FinalTTj^  he  is  the  poet  incomparable  not  only  of  England 
but  of  all  ages  and  the  world.  lleTias  his  own  distinctive 
note,  and  he  is  master  of  all  the  sources  of  his  instrument ; 
yet  he  is  not  eccentric.  He  is  with  us  in  ^'  the  dark  back- 
ward and  abysm  of  time,"  or  as  '^  the  unfolding  st£r  calls 
up  the  shepherd ; ''  he  "  knows  all  qualities  with  a  learned 
spirit,  of  human  dealings."  "With  him  we  live  and  love 
and  dream  and  hope.  He  beckons  us  to  all  things  beau- 
tiful— and  to  God. 


chapter  vi 

shakespeake's  latee   coxtemporakies 

ais^d    the    decline    of    the 

elizabetha:n^   drama 

37.  General  Characteristics  of  the  Period. — The  pres- 
ent chapter  is  concerned  primarily  with  the  story  of  the 
English  Drama,  exclusive  of  Shakespeare,  from  ahout 
the  year  1596  to  the  closing  of  the  theatres  in  1612.  The 
earlier  of  Ihesij  dales  is  -^iveii  buCiuise  it  marks  the  begin- 
ning of  actual  production  on  the  part  of  Shakespeare's 
later  contemporaries;  and  in  connection  with  the  great 
dramatist's  later  w^ork  we  have  already  remarked  the  in- 
fluences that  were  brought  to  hear  upon  him  in  his  later 
years,  in  a  very  slight  measure  perhaps  from  the  realistic 
comedy  of  Jonson,  and  in  a  much  larger  degree  from 
the  more  romantic  work  of  Beaumont  and  Eletcher.  The 
tradition  of  tragedy,  so  well  held  aloft  by  Kyd  and  Shake- 
speare, was  preserved  in  the  work  of  Webster,  with  which 
playwright  indeed  the  drama  of  revenge  and  horror 
reached  its  culmination.  Other  men  of  the  period  have 
their  distinctive  merits :  Dekker,  for  instance,  is  possessed 
of  a  wholesome  geniality  of  temper  that  has  generally 
endeared  him  to  lovers  of  literature;  Massinger's  plays 
are  of  unusual  technical  excellence;  and  Shirley  has  dis- 
tinct poetic  quality.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  century 
also,  in  amateur  or  court  circles,  the  pasroral  play  or  the 
masque  flourished.     More  and  more,  however,  the  stand- 

90 


DECLINE  OP  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA      91 

ard  drama  of  the  period  exhibited  marks  of  decadence. 
Themes  became  sensational  or  melodramatic;  incest  was 
more  than  once  a  dominating  motive.  A  great  form  of  art 
was  being  worn  thin,  and  nnfortunately  there  was  all  too 
much  ground  on  which  the  sober  Puritan  temper  could 
base  its  opposition  and  because  of  which  the  playhouses 
were  at  last  officially  closed. 

38.  Ben  Jonson. — The  facts  about  the  life  of  Jonson 
(1573-1637)  that  have  come  down  to  us,  while  not  a  great 
many,  are  still  more  numerous  than  those  of  most  of  the 
Elizabethan  and  Jacobean  dramatists.  Born  in  Westmin- 
ster he  attended  the  Westminster  school.  It  is  not  known 
that  he  was  ever  resident  at  either  university ;  yet  he  was 
given  his  A.  IL  by  each  one,  and  by  dint  of  his  own  effort 
he  ultimately  became  the  leading  man  of  letters  of  his 
time.  In  his  earlier  years,  finding  his  stepfather's  trade 
of  bricklaying  intolerable,  he  escaped  to  Flanders,  where 
the  English  were  fighting  against  the  Spaniards.  Here  he 
challenged  and  slew  one  of  the  enemy  in  single  combat. 
In  1598  he  fought  what  he  called  a  duel  with  a  fellow-actor, 
Gabriel  Spencer,  and  killed  him;  and  he  escaped  the 
gallows  only  by  benefit  of  clergy.  He  went  into  the  Catho- 
lic faith  but  later  returned  to  the  Church  of  England. 
Jonson  quarreled  with  various  ones  of  his  contemporaries, 
but  not  with  Shakespeare,  whom  he  uniformly  held  in 
high  regard.  The  most  prolonged  of  his  controversies  was 
in  the  so-called  war  of  the  theatres,^  which  called  forth 

^  Note  Small:  The  Stage-Quarrel  hetween  Ben  Jonson  and  the  80- 
called  Poetasters,  and  the  studies  of  Penniman,  in  which  the  matter 
is  carried  still  further.  Some  idea  of  the  complex  nature  of  the  dis- 
cussion may  be  gained  from  the  following  quotation  from  Small 
(199-200): 

"Probably  Munday  cast  some  reflections  on  Jonson  in  1598 j  eer- 


92      A  SHOKT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

his  satirical  play,  Poetaster  (1601),  to  whicli  Dekker  re- 
plied with  his  Satiromastix.  For  his  part  in  Eastward 
Ho!,  which  contained  a  passage  reflecting  on  the  Scots,  he 
was  imprisoned  for  a  while  in  1605.  By  this  time,  how- 
ever, his  literary  position  was  assured.  He  became  poet 
laureate  and  enjoyed  the  patronage  of  James  I.  He 
brought  out  a  folio  edition  of  his  works  in  1616.  His 
later  years  were  far  from  being  uniformly  happy  or  pros- 
perous; but  in  1628  he  succeeded  Middleton  as  chronologer 
to  the  city  of  London,  and  Charles  I  is  on  record  as  having 
once  sent  him  £100  in  a  season  of  illness.  "  His  egoism 
made  everything  that  he  wrote  partly  a  portrait  of  him- 
self. Almost  every  contemporary  reference  to  him  has 
added  something  personal  and  characteristic.  "VYe  hear 
of  his  quarrels,  his  drinking-bouts,  his  maladies  and  his 
theories  of  literary  art.    .    .    .   Huge  of  body,  bibulous 

tainly  Jonson  twice  attacked  him  in  the  latter  part  of  that  year, 
once  in  Every  Man  in  his  Humour  and  once  in  the  first  scene  of 
The  Case  is  Altered,  apparently  added  to  the  play  about  January  or 
February,  1598-99.  Marston,  then  a  close  friend  of  Jonson,  satirized 
Munday  and  tried  to  compliment  Jonson  in  Histriomastix,  acted  in 
its  revised  form  in  August,  1599.  Jonson  took  the  intended  com- 
pliment as  an  insult;  nevertheless  the  quarrel  between  the  two 
friends  did  not  break  out  publicly  until  Jonson  ridiculed  MarBton's 
vocabulary  in  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  February  or  March, 
1599-1600.  Then  followed  rapidly  several  personally  satirical  plays — 
Marston's  Jack  Drum,  1600,  Jonson's  Cynthia's  Revels,  February  or 
March,  1600-1,  Marston's  What  You  Will,  March  or  April,  1601,  and 
Jonson's  Poetaster,  about  June,  1901.  In  Cynthia's  Revels  and  the 
Poetaster,  Jonson  in  his  satire  had  coupled  Dekkar  with  Marston; 
Dekker  then  responded  with  Satiromastix,  about  August,  1601. 
Jonson  wrote  the  Apologetical  Dialogue,  refusing  to  continue  the 
contest.  Either  shortly  after,  or,  more  probably,  shortly  before  that 
time,  Shakespeare  wrote  Troilus  and  Cressida,  laughing  at  the  whole 
quarrel,  but  holding  Jonson  up  to  ridicule  most  exasperatingly.  .  .  . 
In  the  latter  part  of  1603,  Marston  and  Jonson  were  fast  friends." 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA      93 

and  brawling,  he  yet  loved  Latin  as  heartily  as  canary, 
and  could  write  the  tenderest  epitaph  as  well  as  the  gross- 
est epigram'.  Laborious  and  pertinacious,  he  rode  his 
hobbies  hard,  confusing  his  scholarship  with  pedantry 
and  his  verse  with  theory ;  but  few  have  ever  served  learn- 
ing and  poetry  with  so  whole-hearted  a  devotion. ''  ^ 

Jonson's  work  falls  naturally  under  four  heads:  (1) 
Dramas,  (2)  Masques  and  other  entertainments,  (3) 
Poems,  and  (4)  Miscellaneous  prose.  It  is  because  of  his 
work  in  the  first  class  that  he  id  most  famous;  but  that  in 
any  other  would  have  given  him  a  respectable  place  in  Eng- 
lish literature.  Of  the  dramas  two  are  ambitious  tragedies ; 
the  others  are  comedies,  frequently  satirical.  The  masque 
in  Jonson  consisted  of  dialogue,  singing,  and  dancing.  It 
was  based  on  mythology  and  used  a  simple  plot.  In  some 
respects  it  was  similar  to  the  comic  opera  of  the  present 
day.  As  the  decoration  of  the  masque  was  lavish,  this 
form  of  entertainment  was  cultivated  mainly  by  the  no- 
bility in  private  theatricals  and  on  special  occasions.  Of 
the  collections  of  poems,  Epigrams  and  The  Forest  are  most 
noteworthy.  Jonson  achieved  distinct  success  with  his 
lyrics,  many  of  which  are  m'ore  tender  and  delicate  than 
one  would  expect  from  a  man  of  his  temperament.  He 
had  an  artistic  sense  of  form,  and  his  verse  is  chaste  and 
controlled  rather  than  florid  and  spontaneous.  Of  his 
prose  Timber,  one  of  the  monuments  of  the  period  in 
criticism,  easily  takes  first  place.  Poetry,  says  this  work, 
is  the  highest  form  of  art  both  in  dignity  and  ethical 
importance.  Tragedy  should  teach  and  delight;  comedy 
should  imitate  justice,  show  moral  life,  purify  language, 
and  stir  up  affection.  The  unities  need  not  be  slavishly 
»  Ashley  H.  Thorndike:  "Ben  Jonson,"  in  C.  H.  E.  L.,  VI,  1. 


94      A  SHOKT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

adhered  to,  but  some  stress  should  be  placed  on  those 
of  action  and  time.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Jonson  was 
a  classicist  in  choice  of  subjects,  methods  of  work,  and 
in  his  opinions.  It  is  hardly  tv.o  much  to  say  thut  he  be- 
gan in  English  literature  the  classical  movement  which 
later  culminated  in  the  school  of  Pope. 

It  was  in  his  iirst  acknowledged  play,  Every  Man  in 
his  Humour  (1597),  that  Jonson  made  to  the  English 
drama  his  vv^it  distinctive  contribution,  the  comedy  of 
hutrwurs.  Me  defined  a  hiunuur  as  a  peculiar  aaeciaiion 
vr  distiniruiphing  attribute  of  an  individual.  He  did  not 
intend  to  put  upon  the  stage  any  stich  improbability  as 
that  a  child  might  grow  up  in  the  course  of  the  play,  and 
he  definitely  laid  down  his  program  in  the  prologue,  pro- 
fessing to  show 

Deeds  and  language,  such  as  men  do  use:' 
And  persons,  such  as  comedy  would  choose. 
When  she  would  show  an  image  of  the  times. 
And  sport  with  human  follies,  not  with  crimes. 

In  this  play  the  plot  is  but  slight;  the  characterization, 
however,  is  better  than  that  in  most  of  Jonson's  plays. 
Here  are  types  such  as  were  common  at  the  time:  the 
jealous  husband  (Kitely),  the  poetic  young  man 
(Matthew),  the  gull  (Stephen),  and  the  braggart  soldier 
(Bobadill).  Everybody  follows  his  own  oddity  and  reaps 
the  reward  of  his  humour.  Kitely  reminds  one  of  Eord 
in  The  Merry  Wives  of  Wvndsor^  and  the  part  of  KnoVell 
is  interesting  as  having  been  played  by  Shakespeare. 

Sejanvs  (1603,  alt.  1605)  was  one  of  Jonson's  two 
tragedies,  CatiKne  being  the  other.  The  subject  is  the 
well-known  story  of  the  fall  of  the  minister  of  Tiberius. 
The  play  shows  Jonson's  fidelity  to  historical  truth,  and 


DECL[NE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA      95 

it  also  sh'  ws  his  occasional  tendency  to  use  a  great  multi- 
plicity of  characters.  The  hero  hardly  appeals  to  one,  as 
we  have  li  :tle  sympathy  with  a  man  who  is  hopelessly  bad. 
There  are  some  strong  scenes  in  the  play,  however.  That 
in  Act  I.  in  which  Livia  and  her  physician  Eudemus 
discuss  cosmetics  and  a  murder  in  the  same  breath,  and 
that  in  Act  V  in  which  the  terror-stricken  Sejanus  over- 
turns the  statue  and  altar  of  the  priest,  are  deservedly 
famous.  The  versification  is  good,  rising  at  times  to  great 
beauty. 

Volpov-'^y  (1606)  is  a  satirical  comedy  on  the  moral 
depravity  of  the  age.  An  avaricious  Venetian  nobleman, 
in  order  to  receive  gifts  from  his  acquaintances,  gives  it 
out  that  he  is  at  the  point  of  death,  and  would-be  heirs 
rush  to  present  plate  or  money  or  a  diamond  to  him,  all 
being  represented  as  birds  of  prey.  The  ^^  fox  "  (Volpone) 
is  finally  betrayed  by  his  servant  and  accomplice  Moscha. 
The  play  shows  how  in  the  greed  for  gold  the  husband 
will  give  up  his  v^ife  to  infamy,  the  father  disinherit  his 
son,  and  even  the  gray-haired  man  become  the  slave  of 
avarice.  The  production  is  characterized  by  gi-im  humor 
and  there  is  no  goodness  of  heart  in  any  prominent  char- 
acter. 

More  pleasing  than  Volpone  because  less  bitter  is  The 
AIch€m>ist  (1610).  Lovewit,  a  gentltman,  on  account  of 
the  plague,  leaves  his  city  house  in  the  hands  of  his  servant 
Jeremie  and  goes  to  a  retreat.  Jeremie  lets  the  house  to 
the  alchemist  Subtle,  who  brings  along  with  him  his  ac- 
complice, Dol  Common.  Then  the  humble  servant  becomes 
the  vaunting  Captain  Eace  and  works  with  Subtle  and  Dol, 
not  without  quarrels,  to  dupe  "  not  one  or  two  gulls  but  a 
whole  flock  of  them,"     Here  comes  Dapper,  who  wants 


96      A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

a  "  familiar  "  to  help  him  at  gambling  and  who  is  made 
to  believe  that  he  is  nephew  to  the  Queen  of  Fairies  (Dol 
later  appearing  to  him  as  his  aunt).  Abel  Drugger  is 
building  a  new  shop  and  wants  to  know  how  to  irrange  his 
door  and  shelves.  Most  important  of  all  is  Sir  Epicure 
Mammon,  a  really  magnificent  picture  of  grcrd  and  sen- 
suality, who  pours  out  a  torrent  of  images  and  words  and 
knowledge.  Then  there  is  Tribulation,  a  pastor  at  Am- 
sterdam,  who  wants  money  for  the  enrichment  of  his 
church  and  who  sends  his  deacon  Ananias  to  deal  with 
the  alchemist  before  he  comes  himself.  Finally  comes 
Dame  Pliant,  who  is  also  duped.  Jeremie  in  the  mean- 
time, while  Captain  Face  in  the  street,  is  in  the  house 
Lungs,  Subtle's  assistant.  Lovewit  returns  at  last  to 
hear  from  the  neighbors  of  unusual  events  at  his  house; 
but  Jeremie  comes  to  an  understanding  with  him  inasmuch 
as  his  endeavors  have  gained  for  his  master  a  wife.  The 
Alchemist  has  been  greatly  praised.  Coleridge  remarked 
enthusiastically  that  it  was  one  of  ^'  the  three  most  perfect 
plots  ever  planned."  When  all  possible  detraction  is  made 
for  the  superlative,  the  play  still  remains  as  that  produc- 
tion which  later  criticism  has  ranked  highest  among  Jon- 
son's  dramas. 

Bartholomew  Fair  (1614)  is  in  prose  and  is  a  pure 
farce,  showing  the  humors  of  a  London  crowd  on  a  clear 
day.  A  Puritan  preacher  rebukes  the  wickedness  of  the 
fair  and  then  enjoys  the  good  things  there.  Among  the 
prominent  characters  are  Littlewit,  the  proctor,  who  has  a 
pretty  wife;  Cokes,  the  foolish  squire;  Edgeworth,  the 
cutpurse;  Joan  Trash,  the  gingerbread  woman;  and  Ur- 
sula, the  pig-woman.  One  after  another  they  all  pass  by, 
and  as  we  see  the  procession  tbat  Jonson  has  given  us 


DECLiNE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA      97 

more  and  more  we  wonder  if  this  great  master  of  satire 
and  cynic  sm  has  ever  drawn  for  us  a  truly  noble  man  or 
a  truly  virtuous  woman. 

From  T\  hat  has  been  said,  Jonson's  outstanding  qualities 
as  a  dramatist  have  perhaps  been  suggested.  "His  wide 
and  penetrating  observation  of  manners,  whether  of  city 
or  of  court,  and  his  ingenious  and  systematic  construc- 
tion of  plots  are  obvious  merits.  But  the  gi'eat  excellence 
of  both  his  tragedies  and  his  comedies  is  their  delinea- 
tion of  character.  .  .  .  What  most  discourages  the 
reader  of  Jonson  is  the  absence  of  charm.  Jonson  was 
certainly  not  incapable  of  depicting  noble  passions  or  of 
writing  winsome  verse ;  but  in  his  plays  resolutely  refused 
to  attempt  either.  He  did  not  write  of  passions,  but  of 
follies — not  of  fairyland,  but  of  London;  he  often  de- 
liberately preferred  prose  to  poetry,  and  he  always  re- 
strained poetry  to  his  subject."  ^  As  a  great  realist, 
however,  he  exercised  an  influence  that  has  continued  down 
to  the  present  day.  In  the  novel  as  well  as  in  the  drama 
this  has  been  felt,  and  Fielding  and  Dickens  especially  owe 
much  to  his  suggestion. 

The  final  influence  of  Jonson  on  his  age,  however,  "  was 
an  influence  of  restraint;  and  never  were  there  wilder 
steeds  than  those  that  drew  the  gorgeous,  glittering  car  of 
Elizabethan  romantic  drama.  It  was  Jonson  that  re- 
claimed the  drama  from  amateurishness  and  insisted  on  its 
serious  function  as  an  art  existing  for  more  than  idle 
diversion.  It  was  Jonson  that  set  a  standard  of  literary 
excellence,  not  recognized  before  his  time;  and  assumed 
in  so  doing  an  attitude  of  independence  towards  the  public. 
Jonson  developed  the  masque  and   devised  a  species  of 

•  Ashley  H.  Thorndike:  "Bea  Jonson/'  in  C.  ff.  E.  L.,  VI,  29-30. 


98      A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Roman  tragedy  conceived  historically  and  freed  alike 
from  the  restrictions  of  Senecan  models  and  tae  improb- 
abilities of  romantic  treatment.  Most  important  of  all, 
Jonson  arlderl  the  (^o-re^y  oi  manners  or  humours,  as  he 
called  it,  to  the  forms  of  the  English  drama.  It  was  this 
satirically  heightened  picture  of  contemporary  life  handled 
with  a  restraint  and  finish  ultimately  traceable  to  classi- 
cal example  that  survived  on  the  stage  after  the  Restora- 
tion in  the  comedies  of  D^Avenant,  Dryden,  Etherege,  and 
Yanbrugh.  In  a  word,  Jonson  gave  to  the  later  drama 
one  of  its  two  permanent  types."  * 

39.  George  Chapman.  —  George  Chapman  (1559?- 
1634)  was  born  near  Hitchin  in  Hertfordshire  and  pos- 
sibly studied  at  both  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Erom  pas- 
sages in  his  plays  he  is  thought  to  have  traveled  on  the 
continent  and  especially  to  have  served  on  an  expedition 
to  the  Netherlands ;  but  many  years  of  his  life  are  a  blank. 
He  was  mentioned  by  Meres  in  1598  as  a  writer  of  dis- 
tinction in  both  tragedy  and  comedy.  In  1605  he  was  im- 
prisoned along  with  Jonson  because  of  the  passage  in 
Eastward  Ho!  referring  to  the  Scots.  He  was  distin- 
guished among  the  contemporaries  of  Shakespeare,  how- 
ever, not  only  for  his  plays  but  also  for  his  poem^-  and 
translations.  He  is  perhaps  best  known  for  his  vigorous 
English  version  of  Homer's  Iliad  and  Odyssey,  in  four- 
teen and  ten  syllable  lines  respectively.  In  1604  he  was 
appointed  ''  sewer  (i.  e.  cupbearer)  in  ordinary ''  to 
Prince  Henry,  eldest  son  of  James  I.  It  was  nnder  the 
patronage  of  this  prince  that  the  translation  of  the  Iliad 
was  completed  in  1611  and  that  of  the  Odyssey  begun,  a 

*  Schelling:    Introduction  to  Eastward  Eoe  and  The  Alchemist, 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA       99 

folio  volume  entitled  The  Whole  Works  of  Homer  appear- 
ing in  1616.  One  recalls  in  this  connection  the  highly 
appreciative  sonnet  by  Keats,  '^  On  First  Looking  into 
Chapunan's  Horner.'^ 

Bussy  D'Amhms  (1598?)  and  All  Fools  (1599)  were 
among'  che  nrst  and  most  successful  of  Chapman's  come- 
dies. The  first  of  these,  based  upon  the  life  of  a  French- 
man of  the  sixteenth  century,  readily  exhibits  the  qualities 
of  appeal  to  an  Elizabethan  audience.  It  contains  much 
braggadocio  and  intrigue,  portraying  the  sudden  eleva- 
tion of  Bussy  from  the  condition  of  a  poor  man  to  that  of 
a  courtier  making  love  to  the  Duchess  of  Guise,  and  his 
ultimate  downfall  through  the  schemes  of  the  man  who 
first  brought  him  to  court.  ^'  Throughout  the  drama  men 
and  women  are  playing  for  great  stakes.  No  one  is  ever 
at  rest.  Action  and  passion  are  both  at  fever  heat.  We 
move  in  an  atmosphere  of  duels  and  state  intrigues  by  day, 
of  assignations  and  murders  by  night.  Even  the  subordi- 
nate persons  in  the  drama,  the  stewards  and  waiting- 
women,  partake  of  the  restless  spirit  of  their  superiors. 
Thus  Chapman  aimed  throughout  at  energy  of  expression 
at  all  costs."  ^  The  plotting  of  the  play  is  on  the  whole 
better  than  the  characterization.  All  Fools  similarly 
places  emphasis  primarily  on  plotting.  The  play  is  a  satire 
on  the  life  of  Elizabethan  London,  and  is  really  an  example 
of  the  new  comedy  of  humours,  popularized  by  Jonson. 

The  Gentleman  ^^sher  (1601-2)  and  Monsieur  D'Olive 
(1605)  are  two  other  noteworthy  productions.  Tha  Gen- 
tleman  Usher  is  Bassiolo,  chief  servant  in  the  house  of 
Lord  Lasso,  father  of  Margaret,  heroine  of  the  play.    His 

"  Boas:  iTitroduction  to  Bussy  D'Ambois  and  The  Revenge  of  Bussy 
D'AmJ)ois,  xxvi 


100     A  SHORT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

business  is  to  act  as  a  go-between  in  the  love  affair  of 
Margaret  and  Yincentio,  son  of  the  Duke  Alpbonso,  who 
is  himself  paying  court  to  Margaret.  All  of  this  is  con- 
ventional enough ;  but  there  is  nothing  conventional  about 
the  actual  working  out  of  the  plot.  Monsieur  D' Olive 
is  in  every  way  one  of  the  best  examples  of  Chapman's 
work.  Above  the  story  of  Vandome,  who  must  work  to 
bring  his  old  mistress  out  of  seclusion  and  to  win  his 
brother-in-law  to  a  healthier  love  than  that  for  his  em- 
balmed first  wife,  stands  the  triumphant  figure  of  Mon- 
sieur D'Olive,  an  upstart  and  a  braggart,  but  also  a  wit 
whose  good  humor  is  imperturbable.  As  Bassiolo  is 
thought  to  have  received  some  suggestion  from  Malvolio^ 
60  D'Olive's  questioning  of  his  followers  (III,  1)  re- 
minds one  of  Falstaff. 

"  The  general  impression  left  by  a  repeated  and  con- 
secutive reading  of  Chapman's  comedies  is  one  of  lively 
and  vigorous  comic  force.  This  is  due  in  the  main  to  the 
abundance  of  action  that  characterizes  his  plays.  It  is 
quite  in  keeping  with  this  abundance  of  action  that  Chap- 
man's humor  should  be  one  of  incident  and  situation 
rather  than  of  character  and  dialogue.  I*^or,  it  must  be 
confessed,  is  he  any  great  master  of  characterization.  Per- 
haps his  most  noticeable  defect,  however,  is  his  want  of 
constructive  ability.  On  the  whole  more  nearly  allied 
to  Jonson  than  to  any  other  Elizabethan  poet,  not  only  by 
the  circumstances  of  his  life  but  by  his  scholarly  acquire- 
ments and  the  general  temper  of  his  mind,  he  quite  lacks 
Jonson's  architectonic  genius.  With  one  or  two  excep- 
tions his  plays  are  ill-planned  and  badly  proportioned. 
[On  the  other  hand]  in  certain  plays,  Sir  Giles  Goosecap, 
Monsieur  D'Olive,  and  especially  The  Gentleman  Usher, 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA    101 

Cliapiiiaii  vias  the  first  to  strike  into  that  field  of  romantic 
comedy  wLich  is  now  so  peculiarly  associated  with  the 
name  of  Fletcher."  ® 

40.  John  Marston. — John  Marston  (1575  ?-1634:)  was 
the  son  of  John  Marston,  a  lecturer  of  the  Middle  Temple, 
and  the  daughter  of  an  Italian  physician.  He  was  prob- 
ably born  and  certainly  received  his  early  education  in 
Coventry.  He  was  graduated  at  Brasenose  College,  Ox- 
ford, in  1593.  He  began  his  literary  career  as  a  satirist 
in  1598;  the  next  year  he  turned  to  the  drama;  but  in 
1607  he  gave  up  his  literary  career  to  become  a  clergy- 
man. From  1616  to  1631  he  held  the  living  of  Christ 
Church,  Hampshire. 

Marston's  satires  of  1598  were  "  as  strident  as  youth, 
cleverness,  and  inexperience  could  make  them.'' '  His 
first  plays,  Antoriio  and  Mellida,  and  Antonio's  Revenge, 
were  of  such  turgid  quality  as  to  bring  down  upon  him 
the  ridicule  of  Jonson;  yet  it  is  important  to  note  that 
these  plays  had  a  distinct  part  in  the  revival  of  the  "  blood- 
and-thunder  "  type  of  drama  of  which  Hamlet  remains  as 
the  highest  example.  For  most  of  the  period  of  his  literary 
activity,  however,  Marston  seems  to  have  engaged  in  con- 
troversy. Much  of  his  effort  was  directed  against  Jonson ; 
yet  in  a  season  of  reconciliation  he  collaborated  with  this 
great  dramatist  in  the  writing  of  Eastward  Ho!  and  dedi- 
cated to  him  his  best  play,  The  Malcontent  (1600).  The 
malcontent  is  a  banished  duke  who  returns  disguised  to 
his  former  court  and  under  the  form  of  a  mad  humor 
speaks  bitter  truths.      Other  plays  also   contain  strong 

"  Parrott :  Introduction  to  All  Fooles  and  The  Oentlema/n  Uaher, 
xlvi. 

^  Schelling:  English  Dramas  128. 


102     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

situations.  However,  *^the  texture  of  Marston's  genius 
was  singularly  unequal,  and  he  constantly  promises  more 
than  he  performs.  In  comedy  only  can  it  be  truly  said 
that  he  achieved  success ;  yet  in  his  more  ambitious  and  less 
successful  work  there  resides  an  arresting  quality.  When 
we  are  about  to  condemn  unreservedly,  he  flashes  into  unex- 
pected splendor;  w^hen  we  lay  down  the  book,  his  char- 
acters refuse  to  be  altogether  dismissed  into  the  limho 
of  forgotten  things.''  ^ 

41.  Thomas  Dekker.— Thomas  Dekker  (1570?-1640?) 
with  his  literary  work  has  left  a  tradition  of  singular 
charm.  Of  his  life  comparatively  little  is  known.  There 
is  a  notice  in  Henslowe's  diary  to  the  effect  that  he  was 
at  one  time  loaned  forty  shillings  so  that  he  might  get 
out  of  jail,  and  he  was  in  prison  for  debt  from  1613  to 
1616.  He  first  appears  in  literary  history  in  1597,  and 
for  several  years  thereafter  he  seems  frequently  to  have 
worked  in  collaboration  with  other  playwrights.  He  was 
engaged  in  the  stage  quarrels  of  the  time,  taking  sides  with 
Marston  against  Jonson,  and,  as  has  been  observed,  writing 
his  Satiromasfix  (1602)  in  reply  to  the  Poetaster,  exhibit- 
ing, however,  no  real  malevolence.  He  worked  very  fast 
at  times.  "  In  the  two  years  1598  and  1599  Dekker  wrote 
six  plays  single-handed  and  collaborated  in  at  least  eigh- 
teen." ^  In  1631  he  said  that  he  had  been  a  priest  in 
Apollo's  temple  many  years  and  that  his  voice  had  decayed 
with  age.    He  disappears  from  view  after  1637. 

The  best  of  the  plays  undoubtedly  Dekker's  are  The 

*  W.  Macneile  Dixon :  "  Chapman,  Marston,  Dekker,"  in  C.  S, 
E.  L.,  VI,  56-57. 

"  Bates :  Introduction  to  Haywood's  A  Woman  Killed  with  Kind' 
nes8  and  The  Fair  Maid  of  the  West,  xvr. 


DECLINE  OP  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA    103 

Shoemake/s  Holiday  (1597-9),  The  Pleasant  Comedy  of 
OU  Fcrturuitus  (1596),  and  The  Honest  Whm^e  (1604), 
to  wiiich  last  a  second  part  was  alterwards  added.      The 
Shoemalcers  Holiday  is  realistic  in  method  and  shows  the 
life  of  the  working  class  of  London  without  the  satire 
or  the  sordidness  of  Jonson's  BartholoTmw  Fair,     The 
story  deals  with  the  rise  in  fortune  of  Simon  Eyre,  an 
exuberantly  jolly  shoemaker  with  singular  pride  in  his 
craft  and  his  burgher  dignity;  and  the  main  plot  has  to  do 
with  the  love  of  young  Lacy  and  the  mayor's  daughter. 
The  virtue  of  the  work  is  not  in  its  plot  but  in  its  char- 
acters and  the  wholesome  though   boisterous   fun.     Old 
Fortunatus  is  Dekker's  version  of  the  story  of  the  purse 
that  never  runs  dry.    Old  Fortunatus  robs  the  Grand  Turk 
of  his  wonderful  hat  and  dies  miserably  in  the  second  act. 
His  son,  Andelocio,  however,  fails  to  profit  by  his  experi- 
ence and  also  comes  to  grief.     The  play  has  little  regard 
for  probability  and  not  mlich  for  dramatic  unity.     Its 
merit  lies  in  individual   passages  of  poetry;  the  blank 
verse,   though   careless,   is   often   brilliant.     The   Homst 
Whore,  in  the  first  part  of  which  especially  Dekker  was 
assisted  by  Middleton,  uses  in  its  two  parts  the  same  char- 
acters and  the  same  moral  lesson.     It  tells  the  story  of 
Bellafront,  "  who  has  fallen  but  who  is  regenerated  by  a 
sincere  love  and  is  aided  in  her  determination  to  lead 
an  honest  life  by  her  own  father,  who  has  repudiated  her 
in  her  evil  days  but  now  in  disguise  befriends  her."  ^° 

''  Dekker  is  in  no  sense  .decadent,  being  the  antithesis  of 

Jonson  in  almost  every  way.    Jonson  was  learned,  classic 

and  a  theorizer,  heavy  and  dignified;  Dekker  romantic, 

spontaneous,  with  no  theories,  a  man  of  the  streets  who 

^^  Schelling:  English  Drama,  113. 


104     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

knew  London  well  by  night  and  who  wrote  when  he  was 
hungry  whatever  the  publisher  demanded."  ^^  His  works 
texhibit  "  a  certain  careless  geniality  and  wholesome  sweet- 
ness of  temper  which  make  him,  though  not  the  mx)st 
admirable,  perhaps  the  most  lovable  of  all  our  old  play- 
wrights.'' ^^ 

42.  Beaumont  and  Fletcher. — The  collaboration  of 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher  is  the  most  famous  in  the  history 
of  dramatic  literature.  Both  of  these  men  were  of  the 
gentility  and  their  plays  reflect  the  temper  that  was  more 
and  more  to  dominate  court  life  under  the  Stuarts. 
Fletcher,  the  elder  of  the  two,  was  a  clever  and  very  fast 
worker,  while  Beaumont,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  was  of 
decidedly  more  than  average  poetic  and  dramatic  power. 
The  two  men  together,  however,  left  a  mass  of  work  the 
question  of  whose  authorship  has  within  recent  years  been 
a  constant  challenge  to  investigators. 

Francis  Beaumont  (1584-1616)  was  the  son  of  a 
Leicestershire  jurge  of  common  pleas.  In  1597  he  entered 
what  is  now  Pembroke  College,  Oxford,  but  his  father  dy- 
ing he  left  without  a  degree.  In  1600  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Inner  Temple,  but  he  soon  abandoned  law  for 
poetry.  His  connection  with  Fletcher  began  about  1605, 
and  in  the  same  year,  moved  by  the  art  of  Volpone,  he 
wrote  some  complimentary  verses  to  his  "  dear  friend 
Master  Ben  Jonson."  About  1613  he  was  married.  When 
he  died  he  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

John  Fletcher  (1579-1625)  was  born  at  Eye,  in  Sussex, 
the  son  of  Eichard  Fletcher,  minister  of  Eye  and  later 
Bishop  of  London.  He  entered  what  is  now  Corpus 
Christi  College,  Cambridge,  in  1591 ;  but  after  this  date 

^^Neilson.  "Wendell. 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA     105 

not  a  great  deal  is  known  with  definiteness  about  his  life. 
After  Beaumont's  withdrawal  from  the  literary  partner- 
ship he  worked  in  collaboration  with  Massinger,  Jonson, 
and  Shakespeare.  He  died  of  the  plague,  and  he  seems 
to  have  left  a  pleasant  reputation  for  modesty,  simple  self- 
respect,  and  courtesy  in  his  dealings  with  others. 

Not  less  than  fifty-two  plays  are  commouly  crerlited  to 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  aside  from  such  a  work  as  Henry 
VIII,  in  which  Fletcher  probably  had  some  hand  but 
which  is  regularly  assigned  to  Shakespeare.  "It  is  prob- 
able that,  of  the  fifty-two  plays  which  have  commonly 
passed  under  the  joint  names,  at  least  one  belongs  to 
Beaumont  alone,  and  in  some  eight  or  nine  others  he  co- 
operated with  Fletcher,  taking,  usually,  the  leading  part 
in  the  combination;  that  Fletcher  was  the  sole  author  of 
about  fifteen  plays,  and  that  there  are  some  two-and- 
twenty,  formerly  attributed  to  the  pair  conjointly,  in  which 
we  find  Fletcher's  work  combined  with  that  of  other 
authors  than  Beaumont,  besides  five  or  six  in  which,  ap- 
parently, neither  Fletcher  nor  Beaumont  had  any  appre- 
ciable share."  ^^  As  for  the  plays  which  quite  certainly 
belong  either  singly  or  jointly  to  the  two  men,  criticism 
has  concerned  itself  most  largely  with  the  matter  of  style. 
Those  works  known  to  be  Fletcher's  constantly  exhibit 
loose  metrical  structure  and  weak  line-endings.  Such  a 
play  accordingly  as  The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle,  of 
markedly  different  quality,  is  regularly  assigned  to  Beau- 
mont. The  younger  dramatist  also  seems  mainly  to  have 
been  responsible  for  the  plotting  and  construction  of 
Philaster,  The  Maid's  Tragedy,  and  A   King  and  No 

"G.  C.  Macaulay:  "Beaumont  and  Fletcher,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  VI, 
130-31. 


106     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

'Kmg,  three  plays,  it  will  be  observed,  most  representative 
of  the  best  that  the  men  jointly  left  to  the  judgment  of 
time. 

In  connection  with  the  work  of  these  two  collaborators 
one  hears  a  great  deal  not  only  of  tragedies  and  comedies 
brt  also  trngicomedies.  This  term  Eletelier  has  himself 
defined  in  the  preface  to  The  Faithful  Shepherdess:  '^  A 
tragicomedy  is  not  so  called  in  respect  of  mirth  and  kill- 
ing, but  in  respect  it  wants  deaths,  which  is  enough  to 
make  it  no  comedy,  which  must  be  a  representation  of 
familiar  people,  with  such  kind  of  trouble  as  no  life  be 
questioned."  Here,  obviously,  is  ^omet^iing  that  points 
two  ways,  and  in  this  very  definition  we  may  find  the  key 
to  what  is  not  only  the  chief  ethical  but  also  the  chief 
artistic  fault  of  the  work  of  Beaumont  and  Eletcher,  and 
one  that  gives  their  work  a  distinct  place  in  the  decadence 
of  the  drama.  A  King  and  No  King  (1611),  for  instance, 
is  primarily  concerned  with  the  incestuous  love  of  Arbaces, 
King  of  Iberea,  for  young  Panthea,  whom  he  believes  to 
be  his  sister.  All  through  the  play  this  passion  is  the 
dominating  motive,  and  more  and  more  we  see  the  hero 
deliberately  moving  forward  to  debasement.  Toward  the 
end,  however,  comes  a  sudden  "  twist.''  Arbaces  learns 
that  Panthea  is  not  his  sister  and  that  his  love  for  her 
may  after  all  be  lawful.  One  can  not  help  concluding  that 
something  is  wrong  both  logically  and  artistically.  A  bad 
situation  is  allowed  to  dominate  four  acts  and  then  at 
the  end  a  crumb  is  thrown  to  the  moralist,  when  the 
conclusion  is  radically  at  variance  with  all  that  has  gone 
before. 

Aside  from  such  a  thing  as  this,  however,  the  plays  of 
Beaumont  and  Pletcher  will  be  found  to  contain  much 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA     107 

fine  and  beautiful  fancy.  Phihster  (1609)  is  concerned 
'with  the  love  of  Philaster,  heir  to  the  throne  of  Sicily,  for 
the  Princess  Arethusa,  and  with  his  jealousy  of  his  page 
Bellario,  who  turns  out  to  be  the  beautiful  young  lady 
Euphrasia,  a  sort  of  literary  descendant  of  Julia  and 
Viola  in  Shakespeare.  The  minor  characters,  such  as  the 
faithful  Dion  and  the  witty  Galatea,  are  well  drawn,  and 
the  play  as  a  whole  is  in  the  highest  romantic  vein  of  the 
two  dramatists.  The  Maid's  Tragedy  (1610)  is  also  an 
unusual  production.  The  most  notew^orthy  character  is 
Evadne,  a  woman  who  in  her  low  ambition  will  give  her- 
self up  to  a  king  she  does  not  love  and  because  of  this 
connection  ruin  the  life  of  the  man  who  marries  her.  The 
conception  is  a  daring  one,  and  yet  again  we  are  led  to 
question  the  ultimate  truth  of  the  characterization.  The 
Faithful  Shepherdess  (1608),  credited  to  Fletcher  alone, 
is  a  pa?toral  dramr  that  contains  some  excellent  passages, 
and  The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle  (1607-8)  is  a  keen 
satire  on  the  poor  plays  of  the  period.  Bonduca  (1616) 
is  founded  upon  ancient  British  history  and  presents  a 
rather  free  combination  of  the  stories  of  Boadicea  and 
Caractacus. 

Of  these  two  collaborators  "  Fletcher  was  probably  more 
a  playwright,  more  a  realist — at  least  from  the  standpoint 
of  style, — more  a  wit ;  Beaumont  was  somewhat  more  in- 
terested in  humanity,  in  poetry,  and  in  humor.  Fletcher 
showed  a  genius  capable  of  anticipating  or  shaping  the 
trend  of  English  comedy  in  the  later  development  of  the 
serious  drama."  ^*  Neither  man,  however,  had  the  insight 
into  nature  which  in  such  great  measure  distinguishes 

^*  Alden:  Introduction  to  The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle  and 
A  King  and  No  King,  xlvi. 


108     A  SHORT  HISTORY,  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

the  work  of  Shakespeare.  With  Beaumont  and  Fletcher 
life  seems  ordered  by  the  dictates  of  fancy  rather  than 
by  the  inevitable  laws  that  govern  the  world.  In  spite 
of  all  faults,  however,  their  work  has  an  abiding  fascina- 
tion. It  represents  a  decline  from  the  moral  and  poetic 
and  artistic  height  of  Shakespeare;  but  it  still  belongs  to 
the  same  great  age,  before  the  drama  had  fully  fallen 
into  decay. 

43.  Thomas  Heywood. — Close  to  Dekker  in  the  field 
of  the  drama  of  everyday  life  was  Thomas  Heywood 
(1672  ?-lG41).  Heywood  was  born  in  Lincolnshire  and 
for  some  time  at  least  was  a  resident  student  at  Cam- 
bridge. In  the  foreword  to  the  reader  prefixed  to  The 
English  Traveller  he  assures  us  that  he  had  either  written 
or  had  a  hand  in  as  many  as  two  hundred  and  twenty 
plays.  Of  these  somewhat  more  than  thirty-five  have  been 
preserved.  Heywood  had  little  thought  in  his  activity 
beyond  the  immediate  demands  of  the  stage,  and  it  was  in 
the  drama  of  domestic  life  and  mild  adventure  that  he  was 
most  successful. 

One  can  hardly  fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  clearness  of 
Heywood's  main  plots.  In  A  Wornaii  Killed  ivith  Kind- 
ness (1603)  the  theme  is  the  old  one  of  the  husband  who 
discovers  the  guilty  love  of  his  wife  and  some  other  man. 
In  this  case  the  husband  is  Frankford  and  the  lover  Wen- 
doll.  In  the  indecision  of  Frankford,  as  this  is  evident 
over  a  game  of  cards  in  which  his  wife  and  Wendell  are 
also  participants,  and  in  his  return  at  night  from  a  pre- 
tended journey  to  find  himself  betrayed,  there  is  some- 
thing faintly  reminiscent  of  both  Hamlet  and  Othello. 
The  special  point  of  interest  in  Hey  wood's  play  is  that  in 
a  situation  which  according  to  conventional  Elizabethan 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA    109 

methods  demanded  bloodshed,  he  adapted  a  solution  more 
subtle  and  psychological.  Frankford  sends  WendoU  away 
to  his  remorse,  and  to  his  wife  (Anne)  he  denies  the 
presence  of  himself  and  their  children,  sending  her  to 
a  manor  of  his  seven  miles  away.  The  result  of  all  this  is 
seen  in  the  broken-hearted  penitence  of  Anne  in  the  last 
act.  The  main  situation  here  Heywood  attempted  to 
handle  in  at  least  two  other  plays,  Edward  IV  and  The 
English  Trdveller;  but  in  neither  case  did  he  exhibit  the 
strength  of  sentiment  or  the  directness  of  appeal  evident 
in  his  masterpiece.  In  The  Fair  Maid  of  the  Y^est 
(1603,  or  earlier)  the  theme  is  again  a  simple  one,  that 
of  the  constancy  of  the  affection  of  Besse  Bridges,  the 
fair  maid,  "  a  girl  worth  gold,"  for  her  lover  Spencer. 
Closely  connected  with  this  matter  of  clearness,  how- 
ever, is  a  characteristic  which  most  surely  gives  Heywood 
a  place  in  the  disintegration  of  the  drama.  This  is  the 
almost  complete  separation  that  he  makes  between  his  main 
plots  and  his  subplots.  Even  in  A  Wo'inan  Killed  with 
^Kindness  there  is  little  real  connection  between  the  matter 
of  Sir  Charles  Mountford  and  that  of  Frankford.  An- 
other of  Heywood^s  weak  points  is  the  general  lack  of 
poetic  distinction  in  his  work.  In  no  other  man  so  far 
studied  has  there  been  such  sameness  of  tone.  His  in- 
defatigable energy,  however,  "  enabled  him  to  hold  his 
own  in  dramatic  species  so  diverse  as  the  chronicle  his- 
tory, the  romantic  drama,  and  the  comedy  of  manners. 
In  addition,  he  achieved  at  least  one  masterpiece  in  do- 
mestic drama — a  species  in  which  his  sincerity  and  direct- 
ness, together  with  a  pathetic  power  springing  from  a 
manly,  candid,  and  generous  nature,  found  their  most 
congenial  expression :  w^hile  several  other  of  his  plays  may, 


110     A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

at  least  in  part,  be  regarded  as  having  contributed  to  this 
artistic  growth.''  ^^ 

44.  John  Webster. — Of  the  facts  of  the  life  of  Webster 
we  know  practically  nothing.  His  literary  activity  natu- 
rally falls  into  three  periods :  ^^  the  first,  that  of  collabo- 
ration and  apprenticeship  (1602-7),  in  which  he  worked 
chiefly  with  Dekker  but  also  with  Middleton,  Heywood, 
and  others;  the  second,  that  of  the  two  great  tragedies 
(1610-14)  ;  and  the  third,  ^'  that  of  the  tragicomedies  and, 
probably,  of  Appius  and  Virginm,  beginning  about  1620, 
the  probable  date  of  The  BeviUs  Law-case,  and  ending  at  a 
time  unknown."  Wc  are  naturally  chiefly  concerned  with 
the  second  of  these  periods,  the  one  that  gave  us  The 
White  Devil  (otherwise  known  as  Yittoria  Coromhona) 
(1611)  and  The  Duchess  of  Malfi  (1617). 

Both  of  these  twj  powerful  productions  were  acted  be- 
fore 1612.  In  the  first  "we  have  the  story  of  the  in- 
fatuation of  the  Duke  of  Brachiano  for  the  beautiful  Vit- 
toria  Coromhona,  his  murder  of  her  husband  and  his  own 
wife  at  the  instigation  of  Vittoria,  their  subsequent  trial, 
flight  and  marriage,  with  the  vengeance  of  the  brother  of 
the  late  Duchess  on  the  guilty  pair.  The  radiant  beauty 
of  Vittoria  pervades  the  play  and,  conscious  though  we 
are  at  all  times  of  her  abandonment  to  passion  and  her 
calculating  cunning  when  Brought  to  her  defense,  we  too 
feel  the  fascination  that  perverted  her  judges  and  the  spec- 
tators at  her  trial."  In  The  Duchess  of  Malfi  we  have 
the  guilty  love  of  the  Duchess  for  her  steward  Antonio, 
and  the  vengeance  of  her  brothers,  Ferdinand,  Duke  of 

^^  Ward:  "Thomas  Hej-wood,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  VI,  119. 
'"Vauglian:  "  Tourneur  and  Webster,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  VI,  190-91. 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA     111 

Calabria,  and  the  Cardinal,  with  the  assistance  of  their 
creature  Bosola.  The  strength  of  the  play  rests  most 
largely  on  the  dignity  with  which  the  Duchess  meets  the 
horrors  with  which  she  is  visited.  Act  IV,  in  which  the 
Duchess  is  presented  with  the  hand  of  the  dead  Antonio 
and  subjected  to  the  shrieking  of  madmen  and  the  sight 
of  executioners  with  coffin,  cords,  a  bell,  etc.,  has  been 
criticized  as  extravagant;  and  it  is  a  fact  that  Webster 
has  suffered  from  the  excessive  praiee  of  his  admirers. 
When  all  discount  is  mad ',  however,  there  seems  ample 
warrant  for  the  opinion  of  so  many  that  on  the  basis  of  his 
two  great  tragedies  he  taker,  a  place  "  second  only  to  the 
master  poet  himself."  His  tragedy  has  little  real  pathos 
or  humctuitarianism ;  at  the  same  time  it  exhibits  tre- 
mendous power  in  its  gloom  and  despair,  and  the  occa- 
sional flashes  that  it  throws  into  the  souls  of  people  are 
startling.^'' 

Commonly  remarked  in  connection  with  Webster  is 
Cyril  Tourneur,  who  is  remembered  especially  for  two 
plays,  1  iic  Revenger  s  Tragedy  and  The  Atheist's  Tragedy, 
The  titles  sptaK  for  themselves.  Tourneur  has  occasional 
flashes  of  poetry,  but  although  he  dealt  in  sensational 
matter  he  exhibited  no  special  strength  in  either  plotting 
or  characterization.  While  his  qualities  suggest  Webster, 
he  never  really  rises  to  the  power  of  this  distinguished 
contemporary. 

45.  Thomas  Middleton. — Thomas  Middleton  (1570?- 
1627)  was  born  in  London  and  evidently  received  a  good 
early  education,  though  we  know  nothing  definite  about 

^^  See  Rupert  Brooke:  John  Wehster  and  the  Elizabethan  Drama; 
also  article  in  Seivanee  Review  (January,  1919),  Lockett:  "Marston, 
Webster,  and  the  Decline  of  the  Elizabthan  Drama." 


112     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

his  training  before  he  entered  Gray's  Inn,  probably  in 
1593.  He  was  evidently  well  acquainted  with  lav/yers, 
as  his  works  abound  with  references  to  the  legal  profes- 
sion ;  and  he  married  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  clerks  in 
chancery.  He  was  much  employed  in  the  writing  of 
masques  and  pageants,  and  in  1620  he  became  chronologer 
to  the  city  of  London,  which  position  he  held  until  his 
death.  The  most  noteworthy  event  of  his  later  years  was 
his  being  summoned  before  the  privy  council  in  1624, 
when  it  is  possible  that  he  was  consigned  to  prison  for 
a  while  because  of  his  satirical  play,  A  Ga^ne  at  Chess, 
This  remarkable  production  grew  out  of  the  fruitless  at- 
tempt to  unite  the  royal  houses  of  England  and  Spain,  and 
appearing  as  it  did  at  a  time  when  the  cause  of  Spain  had 
become  very  unpopular,  it  was  highly  successful.  The 
White  and  Black  Kings  are  the  sovereigns  of  England 
and  Spain;  the  White  Knight  is  Prince  Charles,  and  the 
Black  Knight  is  Gondomar,  the  intriguing  Spanish  am- 
bassador. The  play  was  ultimately  suppressed  on  the 
protest  of  the  Spanish  representative. 

When  we  turn  from'  this  interesting  tour  de  force  to 
Middleton's  typical  plays  we  meet  many  baffling  questions. 
'Not  the  least  of  these  grows  out  of  his  collaboration  with 
Dekker  and  other  dramatists,  but  especially  with  William 
Kowley.  This  younger  play^vright  is  supposed  to  have 
been  born  about  1585  and  to  have  died  at  some  time 
after  1637.  He  was  an  actor  in  various  companies,  wrote 
several  pamphlets,  and,  aside  from  work  done  in  connec- 
tion with  others,  seems  wholly  to  have  been  responsible  for 
the  play  All's  Lost  by  Lust  (1609).  The  best  work  of 
both  Middleton  and  Rowley  was  that  which  developed  from 
their  co-operation,  Rowley,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  proving 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA     113 

to  be  a  serviceable  collaborator  and  one  with  a  good  eye 
to  theatrical  situation. 

Middleton's  own  work  is  frequently  powerful,  and  his 
versification  and  characterization  almost  always  exhibit 
something  of  the  ease  of  the  professional.  Succeeding 
Chapman  and  Jonson  in  the  comedy  of  manners,  however, 
he  catered  constantly  to  a  low  public  taste.  The  dates  of 
his  plays  are  uncertain.  The  most  pow^erful  one,  The 
Changeling  (1632?),  was  evidently  written  late  in  his 
life,  as  its  main  plot  was  based  on  a  story  in  John  Eey- 
nolds's  Tnum{p}i  of  God's  Revenge  against  Murther  (pr. 
1621).  Beatrice,  in  order  to  marry  the  nobleman  Al- 
semero,  employs  De  Flores,  servant  of  her  father,  to  mur- 
der Alonzo  de  Piracquo,  a  suitor,  only  to  find  at  last 
that  De  Flores  demands  not  gold  but  her  honor  as  the 
reward  of  his  deed.  Especially  striking  is  the  great  dia- 
logue at  the  end  of  Act  III,  and  it  is  to  Middleton's 
credit  that  his  villain  has  invited  comparison  with  Kichard 
III  and  lago.  Much  of  the  strength  of  the  conception 
however,  was  due  to  Rowley,  who  wrote  both  the  begin- 
ning and  the  end  of  the  play.  Antonio,  the  changeling, 
who  gives  the  title  to  the  play,  figures  almost  wholly  in 
the  subplot. 

In  A  Trich  to  Catch  the  Old  One  (1606)  the  spend- 
thrift Witgood,  in  order  to  get  the  better  of  his  uncle,  the 
usurer  Lucre,  induces  a  courtesan  to  play  the  part  of 
a  rich  widow,  whom  he  deceives  Lucre  into  thinking  he  is 
about  to  marry.  Hoard,  however,  another  usurer,  hearing 
of  the  proposal,  desires  the  prize  for  himself.  All  of  this 
develops  as  Witgood  would  have  it ;  Hoard  relieves  him  by 
getting  the  rich  widow  while  he  himself  is  freed  from 
his   obligations.      This   play   is   typical   of   Middleton's 


114     A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

ability,  and  also  of  his  ethics  and  his  tendency  to  use 
stereotyped  names.  In  Women  Beware  Women  (1612)  the 
center  of  interest  is  Livia,  "who  by  her  cunning  aids  in 
the  seduction  of  another  woman,  Bianca,  and  then  turns 
to  the  abandoned  husband  for  her  own  gratification.  A 
Chaste  Maid  in  Cheapside  (1612-13),  in  spite  of  some 
power  to  amuse,  is  one  long  medley  of  libertiues,  courte- 
snps,  j^nd  e-ossips.  Middleton  was  a  remarkable  dramatic 
poet;  but  in  subject  and  tone  he  is  thoroujrhly  decadent. 

46.  Pii^..p  Massinger. — Philip  Massinger  (1583-1640) 
was  bom  at  Salisbury,  the  son  of  Arthur  Massinger,  who 
was  in  the  service  of  the  Earls  of  Pembroke.  He  entered 
St.  Alban  Hall,  Oxford,  in  1602,  but  for  some  reason 
left  in  1606  without  taking  his  degree.  Entering  upon  his 
career  as  a  London  playwright,  he  seems  more  than  once 
to  have  had  financial  difficulties.  He  worked  at  times  with 
other  dramatists,  especially  with  Eletcher,  and  the  im- 
pression that  he  has  left  is  that  of  a  dignified  and  con- 
scientious worker.  In  spite  of  the  warning  that  he  might 
have  received  from!  Middleton,  he  more  than  once  intro- 
duced into  his  plays  references  to  contemporary  persons 
and  politics. 

The  City  Madam  (1619)  exhibits  in  its  portrayal  of 
contemporary  lite  a  union  of  the  light  movement  and  the 
realism  of  Middleton  with  the  underlying  seriousness  of 
Jonson.  The  City  Madam  is  Lady  Frugal,  who  with  her 
daughters  is  cured  of  her  follies  and  ridiculous  preten- 
sions. The  Duke  of  Milan  (1620)  is  built  partly  upon 
the  story  of  Ilerod  and  Mrtriamne,  but  its  main  theme  is 
that  of  lago  and  Othello.  The  language  more  than  once 
reminds  one  of  Othello,  as  when  the  Duke  demands  of  the 
jealous  Mariana  "  some  proof  "  of  his  wife's  guilt  with 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA     llS 

her  husband.     The  Maid  of  Honour  (1622)  contains  the 
remarkable  characitr  Caniioip,  who  is  in  love  with  Ber- 
toldo,  the  natural  brother  of  the  king,   and  who,  when 
this  man  is  captured  in  a  rash  enterprise  which  he  has 
undertaken  and  his  ransom  fixed  at  an  enormous  price, 
sends  to  him  the  money  by  her  unhappy  lover,  Adorni.    A 
New  Way  to  Pay  Old  DeUs  (1625)  received  much  sug- 
gc;ti<  a  ['rom  M'iddietoii's  A  Trick  to  Catch  the  Old  One. 
While  not  necessarily  the  strongest,  it  has  proved  to  be 
Massinger^s  most  popular  1)1  ay,   for   the  reason  that  it 
co'itains  in  Sir  Giles  Overreach  a  character  that  has  been 
a  great  favorite  with  actors  on  the  Frglish  stage.     This 
avaricious  extortioner  not  only  has  bonds  on  all  the  re- 
sources of  his  nephew,  Frank  Wellborn,  but  hopes  by  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter  Margaret  to  Lord  Lovell  and 
of  Wellborn  to  Lady  Allworth  to  win  also  the  money  of 
these  great  people.    His  plans  are  frustrated  by  the  mar- 
riage  of  Lovell  to   Lady   Allworth   and  by   Margaret's 
elopement  with  her  young  lover  Allworth,  page  to  Lovell. 
Quite  noticeable  in  the  play  is  the  Dickens  method  of  char- 
acterization with  excessive  emphasi?  on  some  one  quality, 
an  example  being  Greedy.    The  lioinan  Actor  (1626)  tells 
the  story  of  the  passion  which  an  actor  by  his  performance 
in  a  play  inspires  in  Domitia,  the  wife  of  Domitianus 
Caesar,  and  of  the  revenge  which  Domitianus  takes  upon 
him.    It  is  a  compliment  to  Massinger's  technique  that  the 
device  of  a  play  within  a  play  is  here  used  without  at  any 
time  impressing  one  as  tedious  or  crude.     In  The  Gi'eat 
Duke   of  Florence    (1627)    an  idyllic   charm   surrounds 
the  love  of  Giovanni  and  Lidia,  and  the  whole  work  ex- 
hibits  more   tenderness   and  refinement  than   is  usually 
shown  by  the  dramatist.     Believe  as  You  List  (1630)  is 


IIG     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

concerned  with  the  misfortunes  and  sad  state  of  Antiochus, 
King  of  Lower  Asia,  and  is  characterized  by  much  that 
is  dignified  and  strong.  The  Guardian  (1633)  is  a  fit 
representative  of  the  decadent  drama.  The  plot  is  unusu- 
ally complicated;  Durazzo,  who  has  the  title  part,  is 
despicably  gross ;  and  the  whole  tone  of  the  play  is  on  Mas- 
singer's    lowest   level. 

This  dramatist  is  noted  for  what  has  been  called  his 
mechanical  morality — for  his  people  without  souls — 
though  it  may  be  contended  that  this  was  to  some  extent 
at  least  a  protest  against  current  decadence.  In  his  plays 
there  are  few  flashes  of  poetry.  He  substituted  sensa- 
tionalism for  natural  vigor  and  his  themes  are  frequently 
improbable.  When  he  attempts  to  draw  ideal  characters 
he  fails  to  convince,  and  the  qualities  of  his  people  seem 
to  be  external  rather  than  a  real  part  of  them.  One  of  the 
most  exasperating  of  his  faults  is  his  deliberate  moraliz- 
ing. More  and  more  as  one  studies  his  work  he  becomes 
convinced  that  he  was,  as  Symons  says,  but  *'the  late 
twilight  of  the  long  and  splendid  day  of  which  Marlowe 
was  the  dawn." 

In  connection  with  Massinger  as  well  as  anywhere,  how- 
ever, it  might  be  worth  while  briefly  to  note  the  changes 
that  had  taken  place  in  the  English  drama  since  the  days 
of  Lyly  and  Marlowe.  The  drama  was  essentially  a 
product  of  the  Eenaissance  and  lost  its  power  with  the 
decline  of  the  forces  that  brought  it  into  existence.  As  in 
any  great  movement  in  literature  or  life,  symptoms  of 
decay  had  begun  to  appear  even  while  the  form  was  at 
its  height.  Before  1600  several  forms  had  diea.  First 
passed  the  miracle  plays;  with  John  Heywood  went  the 
interlude;  and  by  1600  the  morality  and  the  chronicle 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAIVLA.    117 

play  Lad  also  run  their  coarbt.  TiiLii  in  turn  there  was 
emphasis  on  classical  drama,  the  comedy  of  humors,  the 
comedy  of  manners,  romantic  tragedy,  and  the  domestic 
play.  By  1620,  then,  or  the  time  when  j\Ias»inger  began 
to  write  for  the  stage,  every  noteworthy  tendency  of  the 
drama  of  the  age  had  run  its  course.  All  that  the  men 
who  came  after  this  date  could  do  was  to  work  over  old 
materials  and  adapt  to  their  own  purpose  situations  in 
the  work  of  their  predecessors.  Accordingly  they  threw 
emphasis  on  workmanship,  their  characters  became  typical 
and  stereotyped,  and  their  plots  more  and  more  sensa- 
tional. It  is  true  that  the  moral  tone  that  developed  was 
such  as  largely  to  justify  the  opposition  of  the  Puritans. 
It  is  also  true,  however,  that  the  terms  "  decadence  "  and 
"  disintegration ''  may  easily  be  overworked.  The  spirit 
of  the  drama  did  not  die  under  the  Puritans — it  only 
slept;  and  when  plays  again  took  the  stage  in  the  period 
of  the  Restoration,  Jonson  and  Beaumont  and  Fletcher 
were  among  the  leading  influences. 

47.  John  Ford.— John  Ford  (1586-1640  ?)  was  a  native 
of  Islington  in  Devonshire.  A  man  of  his  name  was 
entered  at  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  in  1601 ;  but  if  this 
was  the  future  dramatist  his  stay  was  short,  for  he  became 
a  member  of  the  Middle  Temple  in  November,  1602.  Of 
Ford's  further  career  we  know  only  from  the  dedications 
prefixed  to  his  plays  and  verses,  and  he  disappears  from 
view  after  1639.  ^^  He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  a 
somewhat  melancholy  temperament,  independent  in  his 
attitude  toward  the  public  taste,  and  capable  of  espousing 
unpopular  causes."  ^^ 

"Ford's  dramas  show  a  tendency  to  deal  with  illicit 
**Neil8on:  The  Chief  Elizabethan  Dramatists,  874. 


118     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

and  even  incestuous  love  in  a  peculiar  mood,  the  dra- 
matist frequently  creating  strong  sympathy  for  the  tempted 
and  the  sinner,  and  leaving  the  question  of  guilt  open. 
This,  along  with  his  fondness  for  the  theatrical  and  the 
sensational,  has  led  to  his  being  frequently  chosen  ?is  an 
example  of  the  decadence  of  the  drama.  The  charge  is  not 
to  be  denied;  but  in  spite  of  these  defects,  he  shows  a 
power  of  insight  into  suffering  and  perplexity,  and  writes 
at  times  poetry  of  such  beauty  and  tenderness,  that  he 
remains  a  figure  of  much  intrinsic  interest  as  well  as  his- 
torical importance."  ^^ 

The  chronology  of  Eord's  plays  is  a  much  disputed 
question.     In  general,  however,  those  here  remarked  ap- 
peared within  the  limits  1627-1633.     After  various  non- 
dramatic  work  and  effort  in  collaboration,  the  playwright 
passed   to  the  composition   of   The  Lot^er's  Mdnnclioly 
(1628),  his  first  independent  drama.     Ihe  theme  is  the 
simple  one  of  the  melancholy  and  longing  of  Prince  Pala- 
dor  of  Cyprus  for  the  lost  Eroclea.     The  love-madness  of 
Palador,    however,    doubtless    received    suggestion    from 
Hamlet;  the  page  Parthenophil  is  merely  a  weaker  ver- 
sion of  Viola ;  and  the  play  as  a  whole  by  no  means  rises 
above  mediocrity.     Very  different,  however,  are  the  next 
three  plays,  Pord's  powerful  and  characteristic  but  de- 
cadent tragedies.     In  'TU  Pity  She's  a   ^Y}wrc   (1627) 
Annabella,  daughter  of  Plorio,  is  sought  in  marriage  by  the 
Eoman  Grimaldi,  the  nobleman   Soranzo,   and   the  fool 
Bergetto;  but  she  leaves  all  three  to  bestow  her  love  in 
secret  upon  her  brother  Giovanni.     Her  sin  is  revealed 
when  she  finally  marries  Soranzo.    United  with  this  main 
plot  is  the  minor  one  of  Richardetto,  a  physician  whose 
^•Neilsoii,  ibid. 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA     119 

wife  lias  been  betrayed  by  Soranzo.  A  characteristic 
scene  is  that  in  which  Giovanni,  having  cut  out  Anna- 
bella's  heart,  presents  it  on  a  rapier  to  the  guests  at 
Soranzo's  banquet.  Most  critics  agree  that  The  BroJcen 
Heart  (1629)  is  Ford's  strongest  play.  There  are  in  fact 
four  broken  hearts  in  the  drama,  those  of  Orgilus,  Penthea, 
Ithocles,  and  Calantha,  for  when  Ithocles,  brother  of  Pen- 
thea, has  wrecked  the  love  of  Orgilus  and  his  sister, 
Orgilus  proceeds  to  take  revenge  by  making  that  between 
Ithocles  and  Calantha  impossible.  There  are  some  strong 
scenes  in  the  play;  especially  tense  is  that  of  the  revels 
(V,  2)  in  which  Calantha  hears  successively  of  the  death 
of  Penthea,  Ithocles,  and  her  father  the  king  without  emo- 
tion. In  Love's  Snr.rifce  (1630)  the  central  figure  is 
Bianca,  Duchess  of  Pavia,  who  at  first  repulses  Fernando, 
the  friend  of  her  husband  who  makes  love  to  her,  but  who 
later  in  her  overmastering  passion  for  him  defies  fate 
itself  and  without  ever  losing  her  self-passession  dies  by 
the  sword  of  Caraffa,  her  weak  and  impulsive  husband. 
The  play  is  a  compound  of  genius  and  coarseness  and 
faulty  construction  that  is  almost  without  a  parallel.  Of 
somewhat  different  quality  is  Perhin  Warhech  (1633), 
which  seems  to  be  a  belated  chronicle  but  which  is  really 
more  of  a  problem  play.  Ford's  versification  and  his 
poetic  effects  are  of  a  very  high  order;  and  his  lines  fre- 
quently impress  one  by  their  musical  quality.  He  was  not 
firm  in  construction,  however,  and  for  cold-blooded  vil- 
lainy and  absolute  lack  of  restraint  he  is  not  equaled  by 
any  one  that  we  have  so  far  met  in  the  history  of  the 
English  Drama. 

48.  James  Shirley.— James  Shirley  (1596-1666)  was 
born  in  London  and  received  his  early  education  at  the 


120     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Merchant  Taylors'  School.  He  afterwards  went  to  St. 
John's  College,  Oxford,  but  transferred  to  Catherine 
Hall,  Cambridge,  where  he  took  his  degrees.  Having 
taken  orders  about  1619,  he  obtained  a  living  at  St.  Albans 
in  Hertfordshire,  but  becoming  converted  to  the  Church 
of  Kome  resigned  this,  and  in  1623  became  master  of  a 
grammar  school.  His  first  play  was  licensed  in  1625  and 
probably  very  soon  after  this  date  he  went  to  London  as 
a  professional  dramatist.  He  received  some  noteworthy 
commissions,  especially  for  the  composition  of  masques, 
and  was  generally  under  the  patronage  of  the  court.  He 
engaged  in  the  Civil  War  on  the  royalist  side,  but  after 
the  battle  of  Marston  Moor  went  back  to  London  and  to  his 
old  profession  of  teaching.  After  the  Restoration  some 
of  his  plays  were  revived,  but  he  wrote  no  more.  He  and 
his  second  wife  died  of  shock  in  connection  with  the  great 
London  fire. 

Shirley  wrote  altogether  nearly  forty  plays,  and  because 
of  the  care  that  he  took  with  his  work  these  are  unusually 
well  preserved.  In  fact,  by  the  time  he  wrote,  because  of 
the  published  work  of  Jonson,  Shakespeare,  and  others,  it 
was  beginning  to  be  understood  that  a  dramatist  might 
expect  to  be  read  a^  well  as  see  his  plays  on  the  stage. 
Shirley  had  an  excellent  sense  of  humor  and  most  of  his 
plays  are  comedies,  though  two  of  his  tragedies  represent 
his  strongest  work.  Because  of  his  associations,  in  his 
comedies  he  emphasized  society  in  the  narrower  sense. 
Hyde  Park  (1632)  is  a  realistic  play  of  the  manners  of 
the  time,  most  noteworthy  for  the  atmosphere  of  the  horse- 
racing  of  the  day  that  it  reproduces.  Venture's  song  in 
praise  of  the  famous  horses  of  the  time  comes  back  to  us 
now  with  something  of  the  pathos   of  Villon's  ballads. 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA     121 

Even  more  popular  was  The  Lady  of  Pleasure  (1635), 
the  theme  of  which  is  the  attempt  of  Sir  Thomas,  the  hus- 
band of  Lady  Bornwell,  to  cure  his  wife  of  her  follies 
by  pretending  to  adopt  her  own  course  of  living.  The 
play,  however,  is  marred  by  an  indecent  tone,  and  even 
more  objectionable  was  The  Gamester,  In  better  taste 
was  the  great  masque,  The  Triumph  of  Peace,  brought  out 
in  1634  before  the  King  and  Queen  at  an  expense,  we  are 
told,  of  £21,000.  Passing  to  the  tragedies  we  find  in  The 
Traiior  (1631)  one  of  Shirley's  most  powerful  produc- 
tions. The  play  sets  forth  in  strong  fashion  some  of  the 
passions  and  evil  ambitions  that  afflicted  Florence  at  the 
time  of  the  Eenaissance,  and  the  first  and  fourth  acts  are 
especially  good  in  technique.  In  spite  of  all  this,  however, 
there  is  abundant  ground  for  the  statement  that  the  drama 
is  simply  "  another  example  of  the  legerdemain  of  a 
clever  playwright  in  converting  old  and  trite  material  into 
new  effects."  ^°  The  Duke's  kissing  of  the  corpse  of  his 
victim  (Act  V)  is  only  one  of  several  decadent  features. 
The  story  of  The  Cardinal  (1641)  is  as  follows: 
"  The  Cardinal  has  induced  the  king  to  sanction  the  mar- 
riage of  a  beautiful  young  widow,  the  Duchess  Kosaura, 
to  the  Cardinal's  nephew,  the  proud  and  fiery  Columbo. 
Rosaura's  heart,  however,  belongs  to  the  Count  d'Alvarez ; 
and  Columbo  having  been  sent  off  in  command  of  a  mili- 
tary expedition,  she  entreats  him  by  letter  to  release  her 
from  her  engagement.  He  feigns  assent,  though  at  heart 
stung  to  fury  by  her  breach  of  promise ;  and  on  returning 
victorious  from  the  wars  kills  his  innocent  rival  and  casts 
his  corpse  before  Rosaura's  feet.  Under  the  influence  of 
the  Cardinal,  the  king  forgives  Columbo  for  this  bloody 
'°  Schilling:  English  Drama,  21 L 


122~"  A  ffiORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

deed,  and  Rosaura  resolves  on  private  vengeance,  for  which 
a  captain  called  Hernando,  who  is  smarting  under  an  insult 
offered  him  bv  Columbo,  presents  himself  as  a  willing 
agent.  In  the  fifth  act  the  plot,  and  with  it  the  character  of 
the  Cardinal,  take  a  new  turn.  Columho  having  been  killed 
by  Hernando,  the  Cardinal  resolves  on  a  double  crime — 
vengeance  for  his  nephew's  death  is  to  follow  1^  dis- 
honor of  the  Duchess  whom  he  believes  to  be  its  authoress. 
Rosaura  had  feigned  madness  in  order  to  conceal  her  own 
intentions  of  revenge ;  but  the  Cardinal  pursues  his  hideous 
design,  which  is  only  frustrated  by  Hernando's  sword. 
The  king  appears  on  the  scene ;  and  the  Cardinal,  believing 
himself  on  the  point  of  death  from  his  wounds,  pretends 
to  have  poisoned  the  Duchess,  and  feigning  repentance 
offers  an  antidote  of  which  he  drinks  part.  But  the  anti- 
dote itself  proves  to  be  poison ;  and  as  his  wounds  were  not 
really  mortal  he  has  thus  killed  himself  as  well  as  his 
victim."  ^^  "In  the  intensity  of  its  interest,  the  vitality 
of  its  characters,  the  splendor  of  its  poetry  and  the  im- 
pressive fusion  of  the  great  tragic  motives  of  ambition, 
love,  and  revenge,  \_The  Cardinal]  brings  to  a  fitting  close 
the  tremendous  file  of  English  tragedy."  ^" 

49.  The  Puritan  Attack  on  the  Stage. — It  was  not  so 
much  in  the  work  of  the  dramatists  that  have  been 
mentioned  as  in  that  of  lesser  men  of  the  period,  such 
as  Cartwright,  Mayne,  and  Glapthome,  that  the  real 
decadence  of  the  drama  was  to  be  seen.  Long  iefore^  the 
da.y_.of  these  men,  however,  the  Puritan  ojpposition  to  the 
stage  had  bejn__ga^ringJforce.^^     A  full  consideration 

'^  Ward:  English  Dramatic  Literature,  III,  98-99. 

"Neilson:  "Ford  and  Shirley,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  VI,  226. 

"  See  Wilson:  "The  Puritan  Attack  upon  the  Stage,"  C.  H.  E.  L., 
VI,  to  whom  the  section  is  much  indebted. 


DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA     123 

of  this  important  subject  would  take  us  into  a  long  dis- 
cussion of  the  ultimate  relation  of  art  and  ethics,  and  his- 
torically perhaps  even  to  the  relation  of  Christianity  to 
the  whole  institution  of  the  Roman  stao-e.  Even  in  the 
fourteentjfcucentairy-jQpiiosi^^  was  not  un- 

known ;  it  is^in^act  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  English 
dram4IRc  criticism  began  witji_a .sermon,  for  in  a  volume 
of  homilies  written  near  the  end  of  this  century  has  been 
found  an  interesting  Sermon  against  Miracle-Plays,^* 
which  took  the  position  that  miracle  plays  ''  reverse " 
Christ  in  making  into  a  play  "  that  that  he  took  into 
most  earnest/'  and  that  since  they  were  of  "  the  lust 
of  the  flesh  and  mirth  of  the  body  "  no  one  could  effectu- 
ally hear  them  and  the  voice  of  Christ  at  once.  *'  The 
frequent  religious  changes  in  the  middle  years  of  the 
sixteenth  century  made  it  dangerous  for  the  government 
to  allow  the  theatre  to  be  used  for  partisan  purposes,  and, 
accordingly,  one  regulation  after  another  was  passed  to 
prevent  the  handling  of  matters  of  religio^i  or  state  upon 
the  stage  J  culm  in  rating  in  the  proclamation  of  May  16, 
1559,  whereby  Elizabeth  provided  for  the  strict  licensing 
of  the  drama."  ^^  T^i^he  Puritan-^int^  of  view  the  stage 
of  Jshakespeare  was  both  immoral  and  unholy.  Moreover 
it  sometimes  encroached  upon  the  province  of  the  pulpit. 
"  The  actor's  practice,  derived  from  mediaeval  tradition, 
of  performing  on  Sundays  and  holy  days  did  not  tend  to 
soften  the  exasperation  of  the  godly,  who  listened  with 

"  Full  text  is  given  in  W.  C.  Hazlitt's  The  English  Drama  and 
Stage. 

"  For  detailed  study  of  the  office  of  Master  of  the  Revels  and  the 
censorship  of  the  period,  see  Gildersleeve:  Government  Regulation 
of  the  Elizabethan  Drama.  For  study  of  the  Puritan  point  of  view, 
see  Thompson:  The  Puritans  omd  the  Stage, 


124     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

indignant  horror  to  tlie  sound  of  the  player's  trumpet  pass- 
ing the  open  door  of  the  church  and  mingling  defiantly 
with  the  peal  of  the  bells.''  Einally,  the  actor  was  bound 
by  the  very  necessities  of  his  craft  to  infringe  upon  the 
divine  law  (Deuteronomy,  xxii,  5)  which  forbade  one  sex 
to  wear  the  costume  of  the  other;  and  the  point  was  a 
particularly  telling  one  in  an  age  when  it  was  customary 
for  boys  to  act  female  parts.  For  a  long  time  the  opposi- 
tion had  been  a  smoldering  fire,  but  about  1576  it  flamed 
forth  with  violence.  It  made  itself  felt  through  preachers, 
pamphlets,  and  through  the  civic  authorities.  Although 
the  Queen  and  her  courtiers  became  powerful  champions, 
to  the  civic  and  commercial  mind  the  player  was  a  super- 
fluous person,  a  very  ^'  caterpillar  of  the  commonwealth." 
Public  calamities  were  interpreted  as  the  judgment  of 
God  against  those  who  permitted  stage-plays;  accordingly 
when  the  plague  raged  in  1572  actors  were  expelled  from 
the  city,  and  when  on  the  second  Sunday  in  January, 
1583,  a  scaffold  at  a  bear-baiting  just  outside  the  city 
collapsed,  the  Puritan  argument  against  all  vain  amuse- 
ments was  used  with  tremendous  effect.  "  The  erection 
of  the  Theater  and  the  Curtain  in  1576  and  1577  acted 
at  once  upon  the  already  highly  charged  atmosphere  and 
called  down  a  veritable  hail  of  sermons  and  tracts."  In 
1583,  however,  appeared  a  book  that  was  destined  to  sur- 
pass everything  that  had  preceded  it  as  a  contribution  to 
the  discussion.  This  was  The  Anaiomie  of  Abuses,  by 
Philip  Stubbes,  foremost  of  Puritan  social  reformers.^* 
In  the  section  devoted  to  ^'  Stage-Playes  and  Enterludes  " 

*'Note  that  this  book  and  Harrison's  Description  of  England  are 
the  chief  contemporary  sources  of  information  upon  the  social  and 
economic  conditions  in  the  period  of  Shakespeare. 


V 

DECLINE  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  DRAMA    125 

Stubbes  emphasized  the  infernal  origin  of  plays,  backed 
up  bis  words  with  citations  to  Scripture,  and  asserted  with 
earnestness  that  to  visit  the  theatre  was  ^'  to  worship  devils 
and  betray  Christ  Jesus."  His  book  was  exceedingly 
popular,  passing  through  four  editions  in  three  years. 
The  controversy  raged,  once  with  a  prolonged  duel  between 
two  Oxford  scholars,  until  in  1612  Thomas  Heywood 
undertook  to  defend  his  profession  with  An  Apology  for 
Actors.  He  was  answered  by  one  J.  G.  (John  Greene?)  ; 
but  in  1625,  the  year  of  Charles  I's  accession,  an  anony- 
mous Puritan  opened  a  new  and  ominous  line  of  attack 
with  A  Short  Treatise  against  Stage-Flayes,  This  author, 
evidently  thinking  that  any  appeal  to  the  Crown  was  hope- 
less, and  that  the  city  had  given  up  the  task  in  despair, 
addressed  himself  to  Parliament,  and  in  a  brief  and  busi- 
nesslike manner  enumerated  the  chief  arguments  against 
the  drama.  The  twenty-eight  pages  of  this  tract  contain 
in  essence  the  whole  of  William  Prynne's  formidable 
Histriommtix  (1632-3).  One  of  the  most  interesting 
things  about  this  later  work,  which  really  exhausted  its 
subject,  is  its  form,  there  being  a  strange  division  into  acts 
and  scenes  with  an  occasional  chorus.^^  In  1629  a  com- 
pany of  French  actresses,  at  the  invitation  of  Queen  Henri- 
etta Maria,  had  attempted  to  give  a  performance  at  Black- 
friars,  but  had  been  hooted  and  hissed  from  the  stage. 
Prynne  referred  to  this  incident  with  glee,  and  in  the 
table  of  contents  at  the  end  of  his  book  he  inserted  some 
remarks  which  were  considered  highly  offensive  and  per- 
sonally insulting  to  the  Queen.  He  was  '^  summoned 
before  the  High-Commission  Court  and  Star-Chamber, 
which  condemned  his  book  to  be  ^lurnt,  and  the  author  to 
"  For  a  full  analysis  of  the  work,  f^'%  Ward,  III,  240-45. 


126     A  SHORT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DHAMA 

be  expelled  from  the  Bar  and  his  Inn,  to  be  deprived  of 
his  Oxford  degree,  to  stand  in  the  pillory,  to  lose  both 
his  ears,  to  pay  a  fine  of  £5,000  to  the  king  and  to  be 
perpetually  imprisoned."  ^*  More  and  more,  however, 
with  the  approach  of  civil  war  the  Puritan  cause  gained 
force  until  on  September  2,  1642.  there  went  forth  the 
edict  for  the  total  suppression  of  stage-plays.  This  was 
not  wholly  effective  at  first  and  had  to  be  followed  up  by 
other  and  more  stringent  acts ;  nor,  as  has  been  suggested, 
was  the  spirit  of  the  drama  really  killed.  For  eirhteon 
years,  however,  the  theatre  as  an  institution  was  officially 
closed,  and  the  love  of  Viola  and  the  humor  of  Falstaff 
became  a  tradition  and  a  name. 
"  Ward,  III,  243-44. 


CHAPTER  VII 
DEYDE]^  AND  HIS  AGE 

50.  The  Era  of  the  Restoration.  Heroic  Drama. — 
When  at  the  accession  of  Charles  II  the  English  theatre 
was  formally  opened  again  it  witnessed  a  new  age  and 
experienced  new  impulses.  Unfortunately,  and  in  spite  of 
much  noble  effort,  its  dominant  tone  and  tendencies  were 
such  as  to  incur  as  never  before  the  censure  of  the  moralist. 
The  characteristics  of  the  period  and  its  differences  from 
that  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I,  have  been  thus  ably 
summed  up  by  one  of  the  ablest  students  of  the  epoch :  ^ 
"  In  the  mechanism  of  stage  presentation  the  Restoration 
theatre  is  distinct  from  its  Elizabethan  predecessor.  .  .  . 
It  is  enough  to  recognize  that  the  general  adoption  of  mov- 
able scenery  and  the  regular  employment  of  women  as 
actors  are  noteworthy  departures  from  the  habitual  usages 
of  the  Elizabethan  stage.  .  .  .  Elizabethan  drama  is 
spontaneous  and  original,  Restoration  drama  artificial  and 
imitative.  Elizabethan  comedy  at  its  height  is  creative; 
Restoration  comedy  at  its  best  is  imitative  of  the  fashions 
and  foibles  of  the  heau  monde.  The  one  notably  interprets 
character,  the  other  chiefly  produces  characteristics.  ... 
Again,  the  Elizabethans  were  impatient  of  artificial  re- 
straints. Shakespeare  violated  the  dramatic  unities; 
Dryden  advocated  them  even  if  his  practice  did  not  always 

*Nettleton:  English  Drama  of  the  Restoration  and  Eighteenth 
Century,  3-9. 

127 


128     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

square  with  his  precept.  .  .  .  ISTo  less  marked  is  the 
contrast  between  Elizabethan  and  Restoration  drama  in 
breadth  of  scope.  The  former  is  national,  the  latter  local. 
Shakespeare  sounds  the  whole  gamut  of  life ;  but  the  comic 
dramatists  of  the  Restoration  repeat  the  notes  of  fashion, 
frivolity,  and  vice.  Comedy  in  Dryden's  age  represents 
primarily  only  the  life  of  the  court.  Hero  and  heroine 
know  the  world,  but  the  world  is  London.  Shakespeare 
portrays  all  the  passions;  Restoration  comedy  constantly 
reverts  to  the  single  passion  of  unlawful  love."  Naturally 
in  Dryden's  day  Shakespeare  was  rewritten  to  suit  an  age 
which  found  Elizabethan  genius  rude  and  unrefined. 
"  Beyond  the  Restoration  horizon  lay  the  forest  of  Arden 
and  the  seacoast  of  Bohemia.  .  .  .  But  perhaps  the 
most  significant  contrast  between  Elizabethan  and  Ref'tora- 
tion  drama  is  in  moral  tone.  Restoration  comedy  dilfers 
fundamentally  from  Elizabethan  in  deliberately  enlisting 
the  sympathy  of  the  audience  in  favor  of  the  wi'ong-doer. 
The  earlier  drama,  with  all  its  sins,  inclines  to  award 
dramatic  justice,  however  belated,  to  the  virtuous.  Resto- 
ration comedy,  disdaining  fifth-act  compromise,  often  lets 
vice  rampant  in  the  earlier  acts  remain  vice  triumphant. 
It  laughs  not  merely  indulgently  at  vice,  but  harshly  at  the 
semblance  of  virtue.  Cavalier  contempt  went  so  far  as 
to  regard  the  show  of  virtue  as  proof  of  hypocrisy.  Cyni- 
cism replaced  religion.  Piety  was  considered  bourgeois." 
It  is  easy  to  exaggerate  such  elements  and  characteristics 
as  affecting  the  general  population  of  London;  but  as 
affecting  the  theatre  there  can  be  no  doubt.  "  As  the  num- 
ber of  playhouses  was,  for  a  time,  limited  to  two,  the 
people  who  attended  the  theatre  could  not  have  comprised 
any  large  part  of  the  comfortably  situated  London  popula- 


DRYDEN  AND  HIS  AGE  129 

tion.  The  King  and  his  court  generally  formed  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  one  audience.  Then,  there  would  be 
a  number  of  that  parasitic  host  that  always  follows  in 
the  wake  of  royalty.  These  elements  account,  in  large 
measure,  for  the  dissolute  and  indescribably  low  moral 
tone  of  Kestoration  drama  as  a  whole."  ^ 

For  a  long  time  it  was  customary  to  attribute  not  only 
such  characteristics  as  have  been  remarked  but  also  the 
whole  basis  of  Kestoration  drama  to  French  influence. 
More  recent  scholarship,  however,  has  shown  that  this  in- 
fluence has  been  considerably  exaggerated,  and  that  th 
drama  of  the  period  followed  the  main  stream  of  Englist, 
trail  ition — from  Shakespeare  and  Jonson,  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher.     Of  special  importance  was  the  realism  of  Jon- 
son.    E"evertheless  it  is  true  that  the  French  did  a  great 
deal  to  affect  the  nature  of  English  drama  and  dramatic 
theory.     With  prime  emphasis  on  the  classical,  Corneille 
influenced    tragedy,     and    Moliere,    frequently    greatly 
coarsened,  influenced  comedy,  while  the  prose  fiction  of 
France  is  also  to  be  considered.    The  French  code  of  rules,  jy^ 
with  its  adherence  to  the  three  unities,  tended  more  and  / 
more  to  cultivate  the  mechanical,  and  the  new  comedy  of 
manners  especially  owed  much  to  the  Continent.    While  it 
is  true  then  that  in  any  case  the  Eestoration  would  have 
produced  a  comedy  not  very  difl'erent  from  that  which 
appeared,  the  development  was  assisted  by  the  comedy  of 
manners  of  Moliere ;  and  the  reason  why  this  foreign  type, 
not  in  its  technical  features,  but  in  its  animating  spirit, 
was   ultimately  more   influential   than   Jonson's   comedy 
of  humors  or  Fletcher's  court  comedy,  is  that  it  was  "  more 
congenial  to  a  society  that  was  less  interested  in  satirical 

*  Wright:  Tyie  Political  Play  of  the  Restoration,  174. 


130     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

portraiture  or  romantic  exaggeration  than  it  "was  in  its 
own  mundane  existence."  ^ 

Different  forces  affecting  the  stage  worked  together  to 
produce  a  new  kind  of  play,  the  Heroic  Drama.  As  jsenti- 
nient  becamo  more  and  more  Jctuched  and  impersonal,  it 
also  became  chivalric  and  artificial;  and  it  was  affected 
by  the  romances  of  La  Calprenede  and  M^adeleine  de 
Scudery.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  there  was  heroic 
romance  on  the  stage  even  before  the  Eestoration,  and  the 
ultimate  origins  seem  to  be  found  in  the  sometimes  oyag- 
gerated  romanticism  of  Fletcher.  "  Love  is  the  main, 
theme  of  all  heroic  plays,  and  the  sole  theme  of  many.  All 
major  and  most  minor  characters  are  lovers.  The  hero  is 
always  a  warrior,  but  the  martial  element  is  made  so  unim- 
portant that  nought  but  the  lover  remains."  *  Along  with 
love  went  honor,  ana  as  friendship  is  a  form  of  honor,  the 
heroic  play  was  sometimes  concerned  with  the  conflict 
between  love  and  friendship.  "  A  second  form  concerns 
four  people, — a  male  and  a  female  villain,  and  a  hero  and 
his  mistress.  The  male  villain  loves  the  mistress  and  the 
female  villain  the  hero;  so  their  alliance  is  founded  on 
selfish  interest.  In  the  end  both  villains  are  killed  by 
opportune  interference  from  the  outside.  ...  A  third 
manifestation  of  the  same  idea  is  where  the  female  villain 
becomes  infatuated  with  the  hero,  who  is  of  course  already 
a  lover.  She  offers  him  the  choice  of  reciprocating  her 
passion  or  death.  She  meets  her  fate,  likewise,  through 
external  influence  that  also  saves  him  from  the  embarrass- 
ment of  a  decision;  or  she  may  be  so  successful  as  to 
bring  about  the  death  of  his  love,  and  possibly  that  of  him- 

»  Miles:  The  Influence  of  Upline  on  Restoration  Comedy,  220-21. 
*  Chase :  The  English  Heroic  Play,  65. 


DRYDEN  AND  HIS  AGE  131 

self,  before  her  own."  ^  The  heroic  drama  proper  em- 
ployed few  characters,  admitted  no  comic  element,  and 
excluded  all  classes  of  society  except  the  nobility.  It  cul- 
tivated rhyme,  which  Dryden  defended  as  "  as  natural 
and  more  effectual  than  blank  verse  ''  and  as  ^^  the  only 
way  of  writing  in  verse  "  that  Shakespeare,  Jonson,  and 
Fletcher  had  left  to  him  and  his  contemporaries.  For  a 
while  the  form  was  very  popular,  especially  in  Dryden's 
earlier  years  of  work;  but  its  extravagances  at  length  in- 
vited ridicule  and  burlesque  and  led  to  its  passing  from 
the  stage.^ 

51.  William  D'Avenant. — It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  how- 
ever, that  the  spirit  of  the  drama  wholly  died  in  1642  and 
suddenly  came  to  life  again  in  1660.  In  the  earlier  years 
of  the  interval  at  least  professional  performances  of  plays 
were  sometimes  attempted,  and  regularly  puppet-shows  and 
short  comic  pieces  known  as  drolls  were  given  without 
interruption.  The  theatre  as  an  institution,  however,  was 
formally  closed.  It  was  really  through  printed  works 
rather  than  those  presented  on  the  stage  that  the  great 
Elizabethan  tradition  was  passed  on^  various  plays  of 
Shirley  and  minor  dramatists  seeing  publication  under  the 
Commonwealth.  The  real  link  between  the  old  and  the 
new  was  Sir  William  D'Avenant   (1606-1668).''     This 

•  Ibid.,  35. 

•Note  C.  G.  Child:  "The  Rise  of  the  Heroic  Play"  {Modem  Lan- 
guage Notes,  June,  1904,  166-73)  ;  and  J.  W.  Tupper:  "The  Relation 
of  the  Heroic  Play  to  the  Romances  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher" 
{Publications  of  Modern  Language  Association  of  America,  1905, 
Vol.  XX,  584-621). 

'  Along  with  him  may  be  remarked  Thomas  Killigrew  (1612-1683), 
who  wrote  several  tragicomedies  and  who  also  was  a  link  between 
Elizabethan  and  Restoration  drama. 


132     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

author,  a  representative  Cavalier,  had  succeeded  Jonson 
as  poet  laureate,  and  his  activities  under  the  Common- 
wealth had  brought  upon  him  imprisonment  and  even  the 
fear  of  death.  In  1649  appeared  in  print  Love  and 
Honour,  "  his  first  noteworthy  step  towards  the  neroic 
play,"  ^  and  in  1656  was  produced  The  Siege  of  Rhodes, 
usually  regarded  as  the  first  English  opera  and  some- 
times as  the  first  heroic  play.  Its  lines  contained  from  two 
to  five  poetic  feet,  and  with  its  varied  rhyme  it  was 
intended  partly  for  song  and  partly  for  recitative.  Obvi- 
ously it  owed  much  to  the  masque,  and  with  its  emphasis 
on  scenery  it  was  destined  to  mark  an  epoch  in  the  history 
of  the  drama,  while  Dryden  and  others  who  cultivated  the 
heroic  drama  acknowledged  their  indebtedness  to  it.  In 
other  works  D'Avenant  cultivated  the  new  form  of  "  dra- 
matic opera,"  and  his  later  pieces  include  various  adapta- 
tions  from   Shakespeare. 

52.  John  Dryden. — Dryden  (1631-1700)  was  emi- 
nently representative  of  his  age  as  dramatist,  satirist,  and 
critic.  A  man  of  epic  mold,  had  he  written  less,  and  not 
so  much  for  his  own  generation,  he  might  have  produced  a 
final  masterpiece,  though,  as  it  is,  in  the  field  of  English 
political  satire  in  verse  he  has  no  rival.  Connected  by 
marriage  with  an  aristocratic  family,  he  wrote  rapidly  and 
he  wrote  much,  in  the  desire  to  make  his  pen  yield  him 
as  large  a  return  as  possible.  With  no  strong  predilection 
or  talent  for  the  drama,  by  sheer  force  of  ability  he  be- 
came, on  the  basis  of  the  twenty-eight  plays  that  he  wrote 
or  adapted,  the  foremost  playwright  of  his  day.  His 
work  for  the  stage  falls  into  three  periods.     "  In  the  first 

•  J.  W.  Tupper :  Introduction  to  Love  wnd  Honour  and  The  Siege 
of  Rhodes,  xii. 


DRYDEN  AND  HIS  AGE  133 

period,  from  1663  to  1670,  after  some  dramatic  experi- 
ments, Dryden  foimd  in  the  heroic  play  a  congenial  type 
of  drama,  and  in  1670  won  his  greatest  popular  triumph 
with  The  Conquest  of  Granada.  In  the  second  period,  from 
1672  to  1678,  [he]  saw  his  favorite  productions  assailed 
with  bitter  ridicule  in  The  Rehearsal,  and  his  own 
supremacy  in  them  shaken  by  the  success  of  Elkanah 
Settle,  an  adversary  whom  he  could  not  but  despise.  In 
the  third  period  [he]  was  no  longer  primarily  a  dramatist ; 
though  he  produced  some  plays,  such  as  The  Spanish  Friar 
and  Don  Sehastian,  equal  in  literary  merit  to  those  of  his 
earlier  life,  he  made  no  progress  either  in  style  or  dra- 
matic theory.  In  1693,  on  the  failure  of  Love  Tnumphant, 
he  abandoned  the  stage  in  disgust."  ^  These  periods  call 
for  consideration  in  somewhat  greater  detail. 

In  his  first  play,  The  Wild  Gallant  (1663),  Dryden 
"  attempted  to  combine  a  complicated  ^  Spanish  plot '  with 
scenes  from  Jonson's  comedy  of  humours,  and  wit  combats 
suggested  by  Fletcher."  He  was  thus  a  follower  of  Eng- 
lish tradition,  and  he  wrote  in  prose.  The  Rival  Ladies 
(1664)  was  also  a  comedy  with  an  involved  Spanish  plot, 
but  in  verse  and  filled  with  a  romantic  spirit.  The  Indian 
Qiiepn  (1664),  on  which  the  dramatist  assisted  his 
brother-in-law.  Sir  Eobert  Howard  (1626-1698),  was  in- 
fluenced to  some  extent  by  Eoger  Boyle,  Earl  of  Orrery 
(1621-1679),  to  whom  in  the  dedication  of  The  Rival 
Ladies  Dryden  gave  the  credit  of  an  earlier  adoption  of 
the  new  method  of  "  writing  scenes  in  verse,"  and  who  in 

1664  produced  The  History  of  Henry  the  Fifth  and  in 

1665  Mustapha,  the  Son  of  Solyvmn  the  Magnificent. 

•Noyes:  Selected  Dramas  of  John  Dryden  (Introduction,  xix),  to 
which  source  much  of  the  following  discussion  of  Dryden  is  indebted. 


134     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Encouraged  by  the  success  of  his  collaboration  with  How- 
ard, Drjden  now  wrote  alone  The  Indian  Emperor  (1665). 
This  play  definitely  established  his  pt^cidun.  It  cultivated 
the  heroic  couplet,  used  the  love  and  honor  conflict,  and 
placed  such  heroic  figures  as  Montezuma  and  Cortez  amid 
scenes  of  stirring  incident.  In  1665  came  the  plague,  and 
the  London  theatres  were  closed  until  late  in  1666.  Ee- 
tired  for  a  while  in  the  country,  however,  Dryden  wrote  his 
Essay  of  Draniatich  Poesie,  though  this  did  not  appear  in 
print  until  1G08.  ±hen  appeared  five  plays  or  adapta- 
tions, among  them  being  Tyrannic  Love,  or  The  Royal 
Martyr  (1668),  the  story  of  St.  Catherine,  a  princess  who 
is  forced  to  argue  for  her  Christian  faith  and  who  is  pur- 
sued by  the  tyrant  Maximin.  In  1670  appeared  The  Con- 
quest of  Granada  (in  two  parts  and  ten  acts)^  a  brilliant 
success  and  the  best  example  of  the  heroic  drama  by  the 
foremost  exponent  of  the  form.  Almanzor,  the  hero,  is 
led  through  a  complicated  maze  of  '*  incredible  love  and 
impossible  valor ;  "  yet  such  is  the  genuine  vigor  of  the 
action  that  the  production  is  saved  from  becoming  a  mere 
medley  of  bombast  and  noise.  The  Conquest  of  Granada 
was  so  unusually  successful  as  to  lead  Dryden  into  some- 
thing of  the  extravagance  of  his  own  hero,  for  in  the 
epilogue  to  the  second  part  of  the  work  he  gi*ew  egotistic 
over  the  progress  he  had  made  in  dramatic  art  beyond 
Jonson  and  other  Elizabethans.  At  any  rate  the  first 
period  of  his  dramatic  activity  had  closed  triumphantly. 
The  second  period  of  Dryden's  writing  for  the  stage 
was  featured  by  some  of  his  best  work,  but  also  by  doubt 
and  confusion.  For  some  years  George  Villiers,  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  assisted  by  Martin  Clifford  and  Thomas 
fiprat,  seems  to  have  been  at  work  on  a  burlesque  on  the 


DRYDEN  AND  HIS  AGE  135 

heroic  drama  first  popularized  by  D'Avenant  The  fa- 
mous play,  The  Rehearsal,  enriched  by  a  long  accumula- 
tion of  parody  and  ridicule  of  contemporary  dramatists, 
was  finally  produced  in  1671,  and  Dry  den  as  Bayes  re- 
ceived the  post  of  poet  laureate  made  vacant  by  the  death 
of  D'Avenant  in  the  meantime.  While  he  thus  became  the 
chief  target  of  the  jest,  he  had  too  much  good  sense  and 
too  clear  an  appreciation  of  clever  work  to  attempt  a 
reply.  Instead,  the  next  year,  1672,  influenced  largely 
by  the  French  comedy  of  manners,  with  Marriage-d-la- 
Mode  he  made  an  excursion  into  the  realms  of  high  comedy. 
About  this  time,  however,,  bis  career  was  marred  by  a 
coarse  quarrel  with  Elkanah  Settle  (1648-1724),  a  young 
dramatist  who  in  1666  had  impressed  the  public  with  a 
ranting  tragedy,  Canibyses,  and  whose  The  Empress  of 
Morocco  ^^  received  a  sumptuous  court  production  in  1673. 
In  1675  appeared  Aureng-Zehe,  his  last  rhymed  tragedy. 
For  this  Eacine  was  the  model.  The  plot  is  simple,  the 
characters  plausible,  the  dialogue  easily  understood,  and 
the  general  tone  more  restrained  than  was  customary  in 
the  heroic  drama.  Dryden  in  fact  was  changing  his 
methods  of  work ;  "  accepting  more  fully  than  before  the 
rules  of  the  French  drama,  he  attempted  to  combine  with 
them  a  drawing  of  character  modeled  on  that  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan dramatists.""  In  All  for  Love  (1678)  he  de- 
liberately turned  to  blank  verse,  io«  ^  a  Shakespearean 
theme,  that  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  and  while  he  was 

*"  "  The  Empress  of  Morocco  has  no  literary  pretensions;  it  is  im- 
portant in  literary  history  for  having  so  moved  the  wrath  of  Dryden, 
and  iu  the  history  of  the  drama  for  having  been  issued  with  plates 
which  contribute  greatly  to  our  knowledge  of  the  internal  arrange- 
ments of  the  Restoration  Theater." — Garnett,  118. 

^^Noyes,  xliil. 


136     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  EISTGLISH  DRAMA 

perfectly  free  in  his  handling  of  the  story  and  wrote  a 
really  great  play,  he  frankly  imitated  the  master  drama- 
tist in  style  and  in  the  study  of  character.  Compared 
with  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  however,  this,  Dryden's  best 
loved  play,  shows  classical  restraint.  Each  act  is  com- 
posed in  a  single  scene,  the  time  of  action  falls  within  a 
single  day,  and  the  place  of  action  changes  hut  once.  Like 
the  heroic  plays  moreover,  the  drama  is  "  narrative  rather 
than  dramatic  in  its  structure.  The  action,  despite  its 
confinement  within  a  single  day,  is,  as  Aristotle  would 
call  it,  ^  episodic; '  like  that  of  The  Conquest  of  Granada. 
it  deals  with  successive  adventures  in  the  life  of  one  man, 
not  with  one  central  crisis.  .  .  .  Despite  its  faults  [how- 
ever]. All  for  Love  is  the  happiest  result  of  the  Erench 
influence  on  English  tragedy.  However  conventional  the 
emotion  expressed  in  it  may  be,  this  tragedy  remains 
alive  to-day  by  virtue  of  its  vigorous,  dignified,  and  truly 
poetic  style,  and  of  sustained  interest  of  the  action."  ^^ 

The  line  between  Dry  den's  second  and  third  periods 
as  a  dramatist  is  not  to  be  indicated  with  absolute  definite- 
ness,  though  All  for  Love  is  commonly  regarded  as  mark- 
ing the  passing  of  rhymed  drama.  In  1678  he  collaborated 
with  [N'athaniel  Lee  on  a  classical  tragedy,  Oedipus,  and  the 
next  year  he  remodeled  Troilus  and  Cressida  on  classical 
lines.  To  this  latter  production  he  prefixed  his  Preface  on 
the  Grounds  of  Criticism  in  Tragedy.  lie  cited  with  ap- 
proval Thomas  Rymer's  The  Tragedies  of  the  Last  Age, 
Considered  and  Examin'd  hy  the  Practice  of  the  Ancients, 
and  hy  the  Commwn  Sense  of  all  Ages  (1678),  and  de- 

^"Noyes,  xlix.  For  further  discussion  of  the  play,  including 
especially  a  list  of  passages  imitated  from  Shakespeare,  see  Strunk'g 
Introduction  to  All  for  Love  and  The  Spanish  Fryar,  xliii-xlv. 


DRYDEN  AND  HIS  AGE  137 

nounced  tragicomedy.  As  usual  he  was  not  very  con- 
sistent, for  it  was  not  long  before  he  himself  wrote  another 
tragicomedy,  The  Spanish  Friar,  or  The  Double  Discovery 
(1681),  in  which  he  exhioiis  more  than  hi&  usual  comic 
force.  About  this  time  his  work  was  very  varied.  He  was 
writing  operas  as  well  as  plays,  was  busy  with  his  great 
political  satires,  and  since  1670  he  had  been  historiog- 
rapher royal  and  poet  laureate.  When  in  his  later  years, 
after  the  accession  of  William  of  Orange,  reverses  came 
to  him  and  he  again  turned  to  the  stage,  he  worked  only 
with  the  hope  of  immediate  financial  return.  Don  Sebas- 
tian (1690)  has  sometimes  been  overpraised  as  a  master- 
piece, though  the  production  shows  general  vigor  and  has 
at  least  one  strong  and  animated  scene  (IV,  3).  Love 
Trium,phant  (1693),  a  tragicomedy,  failed  to  exhibit  har- 
mony of  tone  and  was  not  a  success. 

Taine,  the  eminent  historian  of  English  literature,  has 
defined  Dryden  as  a  great  transitional  figure  whose  dra- 
matic work  was  after  all  chiefly  of  value  in  giving  vigor 
and  point  to  his  style  for  his  great  satires.  ^'  He  strayed 
on  the  boundaries  of  two  dramas,  and  suited  neither  the 
half -barbarous  men  of  art  nor  the  well-polished  men  of 
the  court.''  The  English  race,  ^^  diverging  from  its  own 
age,  and  fettered  at  the  outset  by  foreign  imitation,  formed 
its  classical  literature  but  slowly;  it  will  only  attain  it 
after  transforming  its  religious  and  political  condition: 
the  age  will  be  that  of  English  reason.  Dryden  inaugu- 
rates it  by  his  other  works,  and  the  writers  who  appear  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  will  give  it  its  completion,  its 
authority,  and  its  splendor."  All  this  is  true;  yet  even 
in  the  narrower  limits  of  the  drama  Dryden  has  to  his 
credit  distinct  achievement.    ^'  Of  tragedy  [he]  may  be  re- 


138     A  SIfORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

^  garded  as  the  greatest  writer  during  the  Restoration  period. 
Though  still  an  imitator  he  was  here  working  in  a  field 
far  more  congenial  to  his  o^^1l  talents  [than  comedy],  and 
by  the  genuine  merits  of  his  production  he  exercised  a 
strong  influence  on  the  future  of  tragedy  in  England.  He 
first  developed,  to  such  perfection  as  it  was  capable  of 
attaining,  a  new  species  of  drama,  the  melodramatic  heroic 
play.  He  later  succeeded  in  uniting  the  French  tech- 
nique with  the  English  dramatic  tradition,  and  thus  gave 
powerful  aid  in  starting  English  tragedy  in  the  direction 
that  it  was  destined  to  follow  for  almost  a  century  after 
his  death,  though  it  never  again  attained  the  height  to 
which  he  raised  it  in  his  All  for  Love.  To  his  achieve- 
ments in  both  these  types  of  tragedy  he  gave  distinction  by 
his  supreme  command  of  English  verse.  Always  buoyant, 
varied,  melodious,  and  vigorous.  Dry  den's  style  pro- 
gresses from  bombast  in  his  earlier  work  to  sustained  dig- 
nity in  his  later.  Those  who  do  not  know  The  Conquest 
of  Granada  and  All  for  Love  can  not  fully  understand 
the  spell  that  Dryden's  name  cast  over  the  century  that 
followed  him."  '^ 

53.  Etherege,  Wycherley,  and  Others. — While  the 
heroic  drama  was  killing  its  victims  and  winning  its  con- 
quests on  the  stage,  the  characteristic  expression  of  the 
drama  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II  was  more  and  more  prov- 
ing to  be  in  comedy.  The  comedy  of  humours  and  that  of 
manners  had  indeed  been  known  by  the  Elizabethans ;  but 
now  developed  a  new  species  of  "  society  comedy,''  largely 
influenced  by  the  French  but  also  finding  some  origin  in 
Shirley.  It  was  artificial,  and,  as  it  developed,  it  became 
increasingly  corrupt  in  tone.  At  the  same  time,  it  has 
"  Noyes,  Iv. 


DRYDEN  AND  HIS  AGE  139 

the  interest  of  reflecting  an  important  period  in  the  life  of 
the  English  people,  at  least  of  the  English  court.  Lest 
at  any  time  the  picture  seem  to  be  too  darkly  drawn,  let 
us  keep  in  mind  that  this  was  also  the  age  that  first  read 
Paradise  Lost  and  Pilgrim's  Progress  and  that  was  nour- 
ished on  The  Whale  Duty  of  Man.  The  Puritan  element 
was  no  longer  ascendant;  but  it  was  still  present  to  give 
solidity  and  poise  to  the  national  character. 

The  real  founder  of  ihe  new  school  of  "  society  comedy  "'T' 
was  Sir  Georp-e  Etherege  (1634-1691),  a  man  of  fashion  • 
who  was  *' knighted  for  marrying  a  fortune,"  and  who 
for  some  years  served  as  envoy  to  Eatisbon  until  he  was 
deprived  of  his  post  by  William  III.  His  representative 
play  is  The  Mayi  of  Mode  (1676),  containing  the  char- 
acter Sir  Eopling  Flutter.  Etherege  was  deficient  in  plot 
and  superficial  in  method ;  at  the  same  time  his  work  hag 
much  graceful  dialogue,  and  to  him  must  be  given  the 
credit  for  beginning  that  style  of  writing  which  was  soon 
to  be  so  highly  developed  by  CongTeve  and  which  was  later 
carried  to  perfection  by  Sheridan. 

Of  stronger  quality  "was  William,  Wycherley  (1640- 
1715),  the  son  of  a  Shropshire  gentleman  of  good  estate. 
Wycherley's  father,  disliking  the  schools  under  the  Com- 
monwealth, sent  the  youth  to  France,  where  he  became  a 
Roman  Catholic.  On  his  return,  however,  the  young  man 
recanted,  was  entered  at  the  Temple,  and  for  some  years 
was  a  part  of  the  gay  life  of  the  town.  This  was  the 
period  of  his  comedies,  Love  in  a  Wood  (1671),  The 
Gentleman  Dancing-Master  (1671),  The  Country  Wife 
(1673),  and  The  Plain  Dealer  (1674).  There  can  be  no 
doubt  about  the  fact  that  Wycherley  exhibited  power  far 
beyond  that  of  most  comic  dramatists  of  the  Restoration. 


140     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

At  the  same  time  ^^  in  his  hands  comedy  is  grasped  with 
brutal  but  imdeniable  force,  and  dragged  relentlessly 
through  the  mire  of  animalism."  ^*  In  his  methods  he 
debased  and  corrupted  Moliere.  The  Country  Wife  de- 
tails the  life  of  a  woman  who  comes  from  the  country  to 
the  fashionable  world  of  London,  without  sympathy  either 
for  the  degraded  wife  or  the  dishonored  husband,  Horner, 
the  villain  who  brazenly  pursues  his  illicit  amours,  is  really 
made  the  hero  of  the  play.  The  Country  Wife  is  not 
without  its  vein  of  satire,  and  even  more  on  the  basis  of 
The  Plain  Dealer  might  a  case  be  made  out  for  Wycherley 
as  a  moralist  castigating  the  vices  of  his  age.  From  this 
point  of  view,  however,  he  was  hardly  regarded  in  his 
own  day,  and  all  the  more  he  made  himself  liable  for  the 
stern  rebuke  he  was  so  soon  to  receive. 

Of  similar  tone,  but  with  indebtedness  more  to  Jonson 
than  Moliere,  was  Thomas  Shadwell  (1642  M692),  a 
Whig  who  succeeded  Dryden  as  poet  laureate  and  who 
for  even  a  number  of  years  before  had  been  a  chief  object 
of  Dryden's  satire.  His  representative  comedy  is  Epsom 
Wells  (1672),  a  lively  picture  of  the  life  of  the  day  in 
which  one  finds  not  one  but  two  deceived  husbands.  A 
score  of  other  productions  for  the  stage  bear  witness  to 
ShadwelFs  industry  and  include  also  some  adaptation 
from  Shakespeare. 

Other  dramatists  of  the  period  generally  reflected  the 
prevailing  tone,  though  of  course  with  differences.  Sir 
Samuel  Tuke's  Adventures  of  Five  Hours  (1663)  was  an 
adaptation  from  a  Spanish  play.  Edward  Eavencroft  did 
much  working  over  of  Moliere  and  the  Elizabethans  and 
wrote  London  Cuclcold^  (1682).    John  Crowne  attempted 

"  Nettleton,  77. 


DRYDEN  AND  HIS  AGE  141 

tragedy  and  the  heroic  drama  as  well  as  comedy,  but  is 
best  remembered  for  his  creation  of  the  chief  character  in 
Sir  Courtly  Nice,  or  It  canmt  Be  (1685).  Sir  Charles 
Sedley,  of  the  circle  of  the  King,  is  strongest  in  Bellamira, 
or  The  M.idress  (1687),  founded  on  the  Euibuciias  of 
Terence  and  giving  a  coarsely  realistic  picture  of  the 
pleasure  of  the  day.  Mrs.  Aphra  Behn  has  to  her  credit 
the  humanitarian  story  Oroonoko,  In  her  writing  for  the 
stage,  however,  she  plundered  right  and  left  and  catered 
to  the  coarsest  taste  of  the  time,  being  represented  by  The 
Amorous  Prhice  (1671)  and  The  City  Heiress  (1682). 

54.  Nathaniel  Lee. — We  turn  now  to  tragedy.  Very 
different  from  the  writers  just  mentioned,  but  contempo- 
rary with  them  and  with  Dryden  in  his  second  period,  was 
ISTathaniel  Lee  (1653-1692).  The  son  of  a  clergyman, 
Lee  attended  Cambridge,  where  he  was  graduated  B.  A.  in 
1668,  and  later  went  to  London,  where  he  became  an  actor. 
He  was  a  good  reader,  but  he  did  not  achieve  success  on 
the  stage ;  and  his  later  years  were  sad,  as  he  was  afflicted 
with  insanity  and  is  said  to  have  died  in  the  snow  while  on 
his  way  home  from  a  tavern.  His  occasional  collabora- 
tion with  Dryden  has  been  remarked ;  but  his  works  also 
include  Nero,  Emperour  of  Ronte  (1675),  Sophonisha,  or 
Hannibal's  Overthrow  (1676),  Glonana,  or  The  Court 
of  Augustus  Caesar  (1676),  The  Rival  Queens,  or  The 
Death  of  Alexander  the  Great  (1677),  MWiridates 
(1678),  Theodosius,  or  The  Force  of  Love  (1680),  Caesar 
Borgia  (1680),  Lucius  Junius  Brutus,  Father  of  his 
Country  (1681),  The  Princess  of  Cleve  (1681),  Constan- 
tine  the  Great  (1684),  and  The  Massacre  of  Pans  (1690, 
but  written  some  years  before).  These  titles  give  some 
idea,  but  only  a  very  faint  idea,  of  Lee's  preference  for 


142     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

semi-historical  and  grandiloquent  themes  and  settings.  In 
his  own  da^  and  t-j  another  generation  he  >vas  known' 
primarily  for  his  rant.  In  The  Rival  Queens  the  main 
theme  is  the  jealousy  between  Roxana,  Alexander's  first 
wife,  and  his  second  wife,  Statira.  Mithridates,  in  its' 
introduction  of  the  ghosts  of  the  sons  of  Mithridates,  sug- 
gests the  Elizabethans;  and  Caesar  Borgia  strangles  the 
heroine  on  the  stage.  With  all  of  his  extravagance,  how- 
ever— his  glare  and  gewgaw  and  noise — Lee  very  fre-' 
quently  exhibits  the  mark  of  a  genuine  poet.  He  knew  not 
the  springs  of  simple  emotion;  but  he  could  often  thrill 
his  audience  even  if  he  could  not  touch  its  heart,  and  there 
was  sufficient  vitality  in  some  of  his  plays  to  keep  them 
on  the  stage  until  the  middle  of  the  next  century.  Better- 
ton  appeared  in  his  work  to  advantage,  and  years  after- 
wards Charles  Kemble  and  Kean  revived  The  Bival 
'Queens  with  success. 

.  Along  with  Lee  may  be  mentioned  John  Banks,  a' 
writer  whose  work  was  more  or  less  melodramatic  and 
who  constantly  suggests  the  influence  of  Lee.  The  Rival 
'Kings  (1677)  owes  much  to  The  Rival  Queens,  and  a 
representative  later  production,  Cyrus  the  Great,  or  The 
Tragedy  of  Love  (1696),  is  full  of  rant  and  sensationalism. 
With  other  such  plays,  however,  as  The  UnJiappy  Fa- 
voriie  (1682),  dealing  with  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  The 
^Albion  Queens  (1704),  dealing  with  Elizabeth  and  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,  Banks  entered  the  field  of  English  history 
and  won  a  popular  success. 

55.  Thomas  Otway.— Thomas  Otway  (1652-1685)  was 
of  more  truly  tragic  quality  than  Lee  and  after  Dryden 
the  foremost  figure  in  the  drama  of  the  age.  There  are  in 
fact  those  who  insist  that  his  stiaongest  tragedies  are  not 


DRYDEN  AND  HIS  AGE  143 

surpassed  by  anything  in  their  period.  It  is  hardly  too' 
much  to  say  that  Otway  "was  an  Elizabethan  born  out  of 
his  time.  Partly  educated  at  Winchester  and  at  Christ 
Church,  Oxford,  he  appeared  on  the  stage  without  suc- 
cess; early  sought  the  notice  of  Rochester,  with  whom  he 
soon  quarreled;  made  some  translations  and  adaptations 
from  the  French,  and  plundered  Shakespeare.  For  som6 
years  he  nourished  a  hopeless  passion  for  Mrs.  Barry,  the 
celebrated  actress  of  the  day,  who  seems  to  have  inspired 
his  best  work ;  and  at  one  time  he  was  rescued  from  want 
by  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth.  In  his  earlier  years  he 
cultivated  rhymed  tragedy,  and  with  Don  Carlos  (1676), 
based  on  a  French  romance^  won  considerable  popular  favor. 
Otway's  reputation,  however,  rests  upon  his  two  strong 
tragedies,  The  Orphan  (1680)  and  Yen/icG  Preserved 
(1682).  The  Orpliau  is  a  domestic  play.  Two  brothers, 
Castalio  and  Polydore,  are  in  love  with  Monimia,  their 
father's  ward.  Castalio  secretly  contracts  himself  to  her 
in  marriage;  but  Polydore,  overhearing  their  plans  for 
meeting  and  ignorant  of  the  tie  that  binds  them,  contrives 
to  supplant  his  brother.  Castalio  is  repulsed  and  spends 
the  night  in  curses  upon  womankind.  When  the  full  truth 
bursts  upon  all  the  next  day,  Polydore  provokes  a  quarrel 
in  which  he  deliberately  permits  himself  to  be  stabbed  by 
his  brother,  Castalio  commits  suicide,  and  Monimia  take^ 
poison.  This  plot  demands  considerable  credulity;  never- 
theless in  its  simple  emotion  and  the  cumulative  effect  of  its' 
tragedy  The  Orphan  must  remain  a  noteworthy  production. 
Perhaps  even  more  powerful,  at  least  in  its  fourth  act,  is 
Venice  Preserved.  An  imderplot,  which  might  have  been 
dispensed  with,  caricatures  Shaftesbury  imder  the  name  of 
Antonio.     The  main  plot,  however,  advances  rapidly  and 


144     A  SHOKT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

with  unfaltering  interest.  "  Pierre,  a  sort  of  Brutus  with 
the  high  Eoman  courage,  leads  Jaffier  to  join  the  con- 
spiracy against  Venice.  Belvidera,  Jaffier's  wife,  per- 
suades her  husband  to  save  her  father  and  the  senate  by 
revealing  the  plot.  The  action  unfolds  in  masterly  scenes, 
where  Pierre  confronts  his  friend  with  his  falseness,  and 
where  Jaffier,  conquered  by  his  wife,  melts  into  love.,  and 
yields  to  her  desire  to  save  her  father  and  the  state.  On 
the  scaffold,  Jaffier  is  to  pay  the  penalty  of  his  vacillation, 
but  stabs  both  himself  and  Pierre.  The  apparition  of  the 
ghosts  of  Jaffier  and  Pierre  and  Belvidera's  madness  and 
death  strongly  suggest  the  Elizabethans."  ^^  Both  The 
Ovphan  and  Venice  Preserved  show  Otway's  emphasis  on 
a  single  strong  theme  and  his  command  of  the  resources 
of  pity.  In  an  artificial  age  he  appealed  to  simple  human 
emotion,  and  while  he  had  not  a  broad  conception  of  char- 
acter or  a  strong  sense  of  comedy,  he  succeeded  by  using 
effectively  the  gifts  that  he  had. 

"  Nettleton,  102. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

LATE  EESTOKATION  DKAMA  AND  THE  KISE 
OF  DEMOCKATIC  TENDENCIES 

56.  Elements  of  the  Transition. — Important  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  English  Drama  was  the  decade  1690-1700. 
Charles  II  was  dead,  3  ames  II  in  exile,  and  a  Whig  king, 
William  of  Orange,  had  recently  come  to  the  throne.  The 
significance  to  the  drama  of  these  simple  historical  events 
can  hardly  be  overestimated.  Some  taste  for  heroic  plays 
or  society  comedy  might  still  prevail;  buF^lrea^y^way 
was^heing  made  for  a  "drama  more  democratic_and  wjth 
more3S5SSsIjQn_  cormnon  emotion.  Dry  den  wa.s  still 
living;  but  he  bade  farewell  to  the  stage  in  1693,  and 
by  this  year  also  such  popular  playwrights  as  Otway  and 
Lee  had  passed  from  the  scene.  Restoration  comedy  had 
not  yet  run  its  course,  and  in  fact  was  still  to  receive  its 
finest  expression  in  Congreve;  but  the  plays  of  this  bril- 
liant dramatist  were  all  written  within  the  decade.  By 
lYOO,  whatever  the  reason,  he  too  had  ceased  to  write,  and 
the  day  of  society  comedy  was  over.  The  age  of  Queen 
Anne  boasted  of  its/jlassic  theory  and  styleTbut  Addison's 
only  drama  was  a  tour  de  force,  and  Steele  was,  con- 
sciously or  not,  one  of  the  foremost  exponents  of  senti- 
mentalism..  and — whiggism.  Important  as  ever  was  the 
relijgious  question,  and  ona  heard  inuch_at_the  tiine  of 
"  occasional  conformity."  The  Tories  were  yet  to  make 
one  last  stand  and  close  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succes- 

145 


146    A  SHORT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

sion ;  but  their  day  had  passed  and  for  half  a  century  the 
.Whigs  were  to  rule  the  country. 

The  change  was  by  no  means  an  unmixed  good.  As  for 
the  drama,  it  needed  reform  undoubtedly;  but  unfortu- 
nately this  reform  was  to  be  wrouglit  only  at  the  expense 
of  a  long  probation  in  which  sentimentality  was  substituted 
for  sent'r.jent,  and  the  would-be  pious  for  the  genuinely 
good.  The  drama  is  in  its  very  essence  an  aristocratic 
form  of  literature.  It  emphasizes  not  the  commonplaces 
but  the  crises  of  life.  It  is  concerned  not  with  the  mere 
details  of  living  but  with  the  grand  passions  that  are  the 
very  mainspring  of  action.  It  exalts,  it  idealizes,  it  glori- 
fies, and  its  very  world  is  effective  and  appealing  because 
it  is  unreal.  Not  unnaturally  it  is  concerned  with  heroes 
and  heroines,  kings  and  queens,  and  it  was  at  its  height  in 
England's  greatest  era  of  nationality.  Any  other  em- 
phasis, even  that  of  the  moralist,  in  a  large  way  makes  for 
decay. 

The  high  priest  of  the  moral  reform  was  Jeremy  Collier, 
who  in  1098  published  his  Slwrt  View  of  the  ItmmralUy 
and  Pi'y/I'aneness  of  the  English  Stage.  In  his  successive 
chapters  Collier  treated  such  topics  as  the  immodesty  of 
the  stage,  its  profaneness,  its  abuse  or  misr^pxesentation 
of  the  clergy,  and  the  fact  that  chief  characters  in  plays 
were  made  vicious.  He  made  references  to  heathen 
philosophers,  orators,  and  historians  that,  to  say  the  least, 
did  not  always  bear  directly  upon  the  point  at  issue;  but 
with  abundant  opportunity  for  illustration  he  pointed  out 
characters  and  passages  in  Wycherley,  Congreve,  and 
Vanbrugh  that  it  was  difficult  to  defend  on  any  account. 
Collier's  attack  was  by  no  means  consistently  logical,  nor 
did  he  have  a  clear  conception  of  the  relation  of  ethics  and 


THE  RISE  OF  DEMOCRATIC  TENDENCIES     U1 

aestlietics.  With  all  his  shortcomings,  however,  he  was 
essentially  sound,  and  if  his  expression  was  not  perfect  he 
at  least  had  the  conscience  of  the  age  behind  him.  Several 
representatives  of  the  stage  undertook  to  reply  to  him,  and 
Congreve  was  only  one  of  those  who  were  baffled  in  the 
encounter. 

Collier  was  in  a  large  way  effective,  though  the  im- 
portance of  his  publication  has  within  recent  years  received 
much  discount.  As  great  a  man  as  Dryden  substantially 
admitted  more  than  once  the  soundness  of  his  main  con- 
tentions, and  the  government  officially  took  sides  with  him. 
^^  The  censorship  of  the  Master  of  the  Kevels  began  to  be 
exercised  more  strictly;  actors  were  prosecuted  for  the 
use  of  profane  language,  and  the  playhouses  were  once 
more  presented  as  nuisances  by  the  grand-jury;  the  ad- 
mission of  women  wearing  masks  into  any  of  the  theatres 
•was  prohibited;  and  Convocation  occupied  itself  with  the 
condition  of  the  stage  as  a  matter  of  moment  to  be  pressed 
upon  the  consideration  of  the  Crown.  The  comic  poets, 
who  had  always  been  more  or  less  aware  of  their  sins, 
now  began  with  uneasy  hilarity  to  allude  in  their  prologues 
to  the  reformation  which  had  come  over  the  spirit  of  the 
town.''  ^  Not  all  at  once,  however,  was  the  license  of  previ- 
ous decades  abolished.  Mrs.  Centlivre  (1667?-1723)  was 
outstanding  among  those  who  continued  to  cater  to  vul- 
garity. For  more  than  a  score  of  years  this  "writer  em- 
ployed a  certain  talent  for  play-writing  in  serving  to  the 
public  the  comedy  that  it  relished;  and  in  such  a  char- 
acter as  Don  Felix  in  The  Wonder!  A  Wom/in  Keeps  a 
Secret  (1714)  she  afterwara^  furnished  Garrick  with  one 
of  his  most  successful  roles.  Even  Mi^.  Centlivre,  however, 

^  Ward,  III,  514-15, 


148     A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DBAMA 

for  a  while  at  least  showed  some  inclination  to  conclude 
her  plays  so  as  to  make  them  seem  not  to  run  too  violently 
counter  to  Collier;  and  in  her  latest  work  she  too  was 
in  the  number  of  those  who  showed  the  influence  of  the 
rising  tide  of  sentimentalism. 

This  writer,  however,  was  mainly  a  survivor  from  the 
past.  A  much  more  important  figure  in  the  transition  was 
Thomas  ttoutherne  (1660-1746).  This  dram^atist  had  no 
great  genius,  but  he  was  not  without  some  genuine  pathos, 
and  he  had  a  long,  pleasant,  and  prosperous  career.  In 
comedy  he  was  fairly  successful,  and  even  more  so  in  the 
dramatization  of  popular  fiction.  The  Loyal  Brother,  or 
The  Persian  Prince  (1682)  was  a  blank  verse  tragedy 
with  some  prose  interspersed;  and  The  Fatal  Marriage, 
or  Innocent  Adultery  (1694)  and  Oroonoho,  or  The  Royal 
Slave  (1696),  both  based  on  the  work  of  Mrs.  Behn,  were 
two  of  Southerners  veiy  popular  adaptations.  In  his  later 
work  he  exhibited  more  and  more  the  elements  of  appeal 
that  characterized  the  work  of  Otway. 

57.  William  Congreve. — ^William  Congreve  (1670- 
1729),  famous  in  his  own  day  and  since  for  his  wit  and 
elegance,  was  born  in  Leeds.  His  father  was  an  army 
officer  stationed  in  Ireland,  and  he  himself  was  educated 
at  Kilkenny  and  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Going  to 
London  ostensibly  as  a  law  student,  he  found  ready  ad- 
mission into  the  best  circles,  and  an  unusually  attractive 
personality  soon  won  for  him  numerous  friends  in  litera- 
ture and  politics.  With  his  f^ve  plays  that  were  given  to 
the  public,  the  first  in  1693  and  the  last  in  1700,  he 
distanced  all  rivals  in  polite  comedy.  He  was  over- 
whelmed with  eulogy,  and  the  foremost  actors  of  the  day 
3were  happy  to  appear  in  his  productions,    He  was  roughly 


THE  RISE  OF  DEMOCRATIC  TENDENCIES     li9 

handled  by  Collier,  however ;  and  whether  for  this  reason 
or  because  his  last  plaj  did  not  awaken  the  usual  enthusi- 
asm, or  because  he  preferred  to  give  his  time  to  the  life 
of  quality  rather  than  to  setting  this  forth  on  the  stage, 
he  wrote  no  plays  after  the  turn  of  the  century.  In  his 
later  years  he  became  blind,  but  in  addition  to  the  re- 
turns which  he  received  from  his  literary  work,  life  was 
made  easy  for  him  by  sinecures ;  Pope  dedicated  his  trans- 
lation of  Homer  to  him;  and  he  was  buried  with  great 
pomp  in  Westminster  Abbey.^ 

In  January,  1693,  appeared  at  Drury  Lane  The  Old 
Bachelor,  which  Dryden  termed  the  best  first  play  he  had 
ever  seen.  "  From  Betterton  downwards,  all  the  first 
actors  and  actresses  of  the  day  were  engaged  in  it;  and 
Anne  Bracegirdle,  the  beautiful,  the  lovable,  the  discreet, 
played  Congreve's  first  heroine,  as  she  was  to  play  all  the 
rest."  ^  The  characters  are  for  the  most  part  conventional, 
but  interest  attaches  to  Captain  Bluffe,  a  cowardly  blus- 
terer somewhat  after  the  pattern  of  Ralph  Roister  Bolster. 
The  Douhle-Dealer  (November,  1693)  was  far  more  ele- 
gant and  polished,  but  by  no  means  as  immediately  suc- 
cessful as  The  Old  Bachelor.  The  plot  was  rather  too 
complicated.  Lady  Touchwood  is  in  love  with  Mellefont, 
to  whom  Cynthia,  daughter  of  Sir  Paul  Plyant,  is  prom- 
ised. Maskwell,  however,  the  Double-Dealer,  who  deceives 
by  telling  the  truth,  knows  her  secret  and  determines  to 
use  it  for  the  undoing  of  Mellefont  and  for  his  own  con- 
quest of  Cynthia.    He  is  the  typical  villain  of  melodrama 

'  See  Thackeray's  brilliant  characterization  in  his  chapter  in  Eng' 
lish  Humourists. 

'  Archer :  Introduction  to  WilUam  Cmigreve  in  Masterpieces  of  the 
English  Drama  series,  2-3. 


150     A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

and  leads  the  other  characters  through  a  maze  of  intrigue. 
Less  involved  and  better  knit  is  Love  for  Love  (1695), 
the  story  of  a  witty  young  spendthriio,  Valentine,  who  is 
fortunate  in  his  love  with  the  rich  young  lady,  Angelica, 
and  who  has  an  especially  clever  servant  Jeremy.  While 
Congreve  was  writing  this  play  "  the  affairs  of  the  Theatre 
Eoyal,  then  the  only  playhouse  in  London,  fell  into  sad 
disorder,  which  ended  in  a  split  between  the  patentee 
managers  and  their  leading  actors,  headed  by  Betterton. 
The  seceding  players  obtained  a  special  license  from 
William  III,  and  constructed  a  new  theatre  within  the 
walls  of  a  tennis-court  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields."  *  At 
Easter  the  enterprise  was  inaugurated  with  the  produc- 
tion of  Love  for  Love,  with  Betterton  as  Valentine  and 
Mrs.  Bracegirdle  as  Angelica.  The  play  scored  an  unex- 
ampled success  and  made  Congreve  easily  the  foremost 
dramatist  of  the  day.  In  1697  appeared  his  sole  tragedy, 
The  Mowming  Bride.  This  was  an  experiment  in  the 
later  Elizabethan  drama,  and  in  the  love  of  Osmyn,  a 
noble  prisoner,  and  Almeria,  princess  of  Granada,  has 
many  of  the  marks  of  the  heroic  play.  The  workmanship 
is  characterized  by  much  artifice  and  the  atmosphere  by 
much  gloom.  Interestingly  enough,  however,  the  drama 
was  very  popular  and  highly  regarded  in  its  day.  Con- 
greve's  last  and  in  some  ways  his  most  brilliant  comedy, 
The  ^Yny  of  ihr  World  (1700),  contains  the  striking  crea- 
tion Millimaut.  This  is  the  dramatist's  most  characteristic 
production.  Interest  centers  not  so  much  on  the  story 
or  action  as  on  the  dialogue.  The  general  effect  of  the 
play  when  presented,  however,  was  that  of  clever  and 
sophisticated  people  talking  rapidly  in  a  parlor  before  some 
*  Archer,  Introduction,  4. 


THE  RISE  OF  DEMOCRATIC  TENDENCIES    151 

other  people  who  lived  in  another  and  a  lower  world.  Con- 
greve's  very  brilliancy  had  overshot  itself. 

It  is  easy  now  to  discount  this  dramatist  who  was 
so  popular  in  his  own  day.  He  has  not  effectiveness 
of  plot,  it  is  true,  nor  have  his  strongest  creations  the 
broad  humanity  that  the  greatest  comedy  requires. 
He  must  be  judged,  however,  not  by  his  shortcom- 
ings but  by  his  merits;  and  these  were  genuine  and 
positive.  To  his  wit  he  added  grace  and  precision  in 
diction,  and  there  is  considerable  truth  in  Hazlitt's  eulogy : 
^^  His  style  is  inimitable,  nay  perfect.  It  is  the  highest 
model  of  comic  dialogue.  Every  sentence  is  replete  ^vith 
sense  and  satire,  conveyed  in  the  most  polished  and  pointed 
terms.  Every  page  presents  a  shower  of  brilliant  con- 
ceits, is  a  tissue  of  epigrams  in  prose,  is  a  new  triumph  of 
wit,  a  new  conquest  over  dullness.  .  .  .  There  is  a  peculiar 
flavor  in  the  very  words,  which  is  to  be  found  in  hardly 
any  other  writer."  ^ 

58.  John  Vanbrugh. — Sir  John  Yanbrugh  (1664- 
1726),  after  some  early  training  in  France  and  an  adven- 
turous experience  in  the  army,  became  famous  as  the  archi- 
tect of  "  Blenheim "  and  other  mansions ;  and,  having 
filled  the  offices  "of  comptroller  of  the  royal  works  and  sur- 
veyor of  the  works  at  Greenwich  Hospital,  he  was  knighted 
by  George  I.  His  work  in  architecture  was  not  above 
criticism ;  he  seems_to_  havfi_been  rather  too  fond  of  mas- 
sive effects,,  and  Swift  was  one  of  those  who  satirized  him. 
One  might  trace. some  connection,  however,  between  his 
work  in  this  field  and  that  as  a  dramatist,  for  he  excelled 
in  construction.    In  gaiety,  lightness  of  touch,  and  ease  of 

=  Lecture  IV,  "  On  Wycherley,  Congreve,  Vanbrugh,  and  Farquliar," 
in  The  English  Comic  Writers. 


152     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

diabgue  he  was  also  distinguished,  though  the  moral  tone 
of  his  work  differed  little  from  that  of  some  of  his  con- 
temporaries. He  hardly  ever  surpassed  his  first  effort  as 
a  comic  dramatist,  The  Relapse,  or  Yirtue  in  Danger 
(1696).  This  play  was  ^a'itten  as  a  sequel  to  Gibber's 
Love's  Last  Shift,  or  The  Fool  in  Fashion,  and  contains 
the  charming  character  Lord  L  uppington.  The  Provoked 
Wife  (1697)  is  not  without  merit,  hut  is  hardly  as  amusing 
as  The  Relapse.  It  is^^sternlx  realistic,_and  contains  the 
gross  but  strong  character.  Sir  John  Brute.  The  Con- 
federacy (1705)  has  a  plot  that  turns  upon  the  possession 
of  a  necklace,  and  is  marked  by  its  author's  usual  vivacity, 
Dick  Amlet  and  his  mother  and  Flippanta,  the  lady's- 
maid,  being  interesting  characters.  Unfortunately  in  this 
play,  however,  the  vices  of  the  court  have  become  those  of 
the  common  people  and  are  more  revolting  than  ever.  Yan- 
brugh  also  made  some  adaptations  from  the  French  and 
Spanish,  and  left  unfinished  a  comedy,  A  Journey  to  Lon- 
don, which  Gibber  completed  as  The  Provoked  Husband. 
59.  George  Farquhar. — George  Farquhar  (1678-1707)' 
was  born  in  Londonderry^  and  had  some  early  experience 
on  the  Dublin  stage;  but  he  gave  up  this  calling  after  he 
had  accidentally  wounded  a  fellow-actor,  and  he  served  for 
a  while  in  the  army.  His  first  play,  Love  and  a  Bottle, 
appeared  when  he  was  but  twenty  and  even  then  showed 
something  of  his  ability  in  plotting  and  characterization 
and  his  understanding  of  the  bases  of  popular  appeal.  Th  e 
Recruiting  Officer  (1706)  was  intended  as  a  sketch  of 
country  manners  in  Shropshire  and  of  the  humours  inci- 
dent to  the  recruiting  system;  and  with  such  characters 
as  Gaptain  Plume  and  Sergeant  Kite  it  enlarged  the 
bounds  of  comedy.     Farquhar's  masterpiece,  however,  is 


THE  RISE  OF  DEMOCRATIC  TENDENCIES     153 

The  Beaux'  Stratagem  (1707),  which  has  an  ingenious 
hut  not  too  improbable  plot,  and  which,  hovering  as  it  does 
on  the  borderland  of  comedy  and  farce,  is  a  forerunner  of 
Goldsmith's  She  Stoops  to  Conquer,  The  scene  is  partly 
that  of  an  inn  with  a  rascally  landlord  Bonniface,  and 
partly  the  home  of  Lady  Bountiful,  "  an  old,  civil,  country 
gentlewoman,  that  cures  all  her  neighbors  of  all  distempers, 
and  is  foolishly  fond  of  her  son.  Sullen."  The  chief  char- 
acter is  Archer,  who  is  "  very  arch,"  and  who  pretends  to 
be  the  valet  of  his  friend,  Aimwell,  the  Beau,  but  who  is 
really  interested  in  carrying  on  his  own  adventures.  Ear- 
quhar  has  not  Yanbrugh's  vivacity  and  lightness  of  touch, 
and  he  still  ostensibly  writes  the  comedy  of  manners ;  at 
the  same  time  he  has  some  genuine  originality,  and  his 
early  death  was  undoubtedly  a  loss  to  the  drama.  With 
the  outdoor  atmosphere  and  the  honest  fun  of  The  Beaux' 
Stratagem  he  was  pointing  the  way  to  a  saner  and  more 
wholesome  English  comedy.  *'  He  emerges  from  the  ranks 
of  the  Orange  and  Augustan  comedians  as  the  prophet  of 
a  new  order.  For  while  he  introduced  no  comic  principle 
hitherto  unknown,  he  blended  the  essentials  of  character, 
plot,  and  situation  in  juster  proportions  than  any  previous 
writer  of  realistic  comedy,  lifting  their  interest  to  an 
equality  with  that  of  the  dialogue,  to  which  they  had  been 
subordinated  in  the  wit-ridden  comedy  of  manners.  The 
result  was  a  form  of  comedy  unsurpassed  for  naturalness 
and  fidelity  to  life:  the  form  adopted  and  perfected  by 
Sheridan  and  Goldsmith.^ 

60.    Colley  Gibber,— Colley  Gibber    (1671-1757),  the 
son  of  a  well-known  sculptor,  lived  a  long  and  prosperous 

*  Strauss :  Introduction  to  The  Recruiting  Officer  and  The  Beaux' 
Stratagem,  xiii. 


154     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

life,  possessed  of  imperturbable  good  humor  and  ability  to 
meet  and  to  handle  without  too  much  seriousness  the  acci- 
dents of  fortune.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  went  upon  the 
stage,  and  in  later  years  he  received  as  much  as  £50  a 
night,  the  highest  sum  yet  paid  to  an  English  actor.  His 
first  play,  Lovers  Last  Shift  (1696),  incurred  the  cen- 
sure of  Collier  und  also  the  criticism  of  Congreve,  who 
said  that  there  were  in  it  "  a  great  many  things  that  were 
like  wit,  that  in  reality  were  not  wit ;  "  but  it  kept  pos- 
session of  the  stage  for  forty  years.  The  Careless  Husband 
(1704)  was  similarly  successful,  though  sume  oi  its  char- 
acters are  mere  puppets.  "  However,  Gibber,  being  a  man 
of  the  theatre,  cared  as  little  for  human  character  as  for 
literature.  It  was  for  him  to  fill  the  pit  and  boxes,  and 
he  filled  them  for  two  generations.  In  the  making  of  plays 
he  was  an  expert,  and  he  cared  not  whose  work  it  was 
that  he  adapted.  He  improved  Shakespeare  with  as  light 
a  heart  as  he  improved  Mrs.  Centlivre."  ^  His  alteration 
of  Bichard  III  in  fact  gave  to  the  stage  a  famous  acting 
version,  that  for  more  than  half  a  century  was  the  accepted 
text.  With  his  usual  appreciation  of  the  changes  in  public 
taste,  he  gave  aid  to  the  rising  tide  of  sentimentalism,  and 
in  later  years  he  rendered  service  to  the  stage  by  pleading 
the  cause  of  legitimate  drama  against  mere  pantomime  and 
spectacle.  In  1730  he  was  appointed  poet  laureate,  in 
which  capacity  he  failed,  for  he  had  not  the  fire  of  a 
genuine  poet.  When,  however,  in  a  new  edition  of  the 
Dunciad  he  was  elevated  by  Pope  to  the  chief  place  recently 
held  by  Theobald,  although  he  replied  he  did  not  become 
bitter  and  was  still  really  impervious  to  attack.     His  most 

'Whibley:  "The  Restoration  Drama,  II,"  in  C.  H.  E.  L.,  VIII, 
200-1. 


THE  RISE  OF  DEMOCRATIC  TENDENCIES    155 

valuable  work  in  the  opinion  of  modern  scholarship  is 
Apology  for  the  Life  of  Mr,  Colley  Cihher  (1740),  one 
of  the  uiOfct  impuiLant  lecoids  oi'  ihe  tiitatre  ever  written. 
It  gives  such  comment  upon  the  comedy  of  manners  and 
the  actors  of  the  age  of  Queen  Anne  as  is  to  he  found  no- 
where else.  Altogether  Gibber  was  an  important  figure  in 
his  day,  and  in  general  he  worked  for  the  improvement  of 
the  drama. 

6i.  Richard  Steele.—"  If  the  plays  of  Colley  Gibber 
mark  the  transition  toward  healthier  moral  standards,  the 
new  movement  in  eighteenth  century  drama  is  fairly  in- 
augurated in  the  work  of  Richard  Steele  (1672-1729).  To 
the  conscious  moral  aim  of  Gibber,  Steele  added  literary  art 
and  genius.  .  .  [He]  was,  m  a  sense,  the  founder  oi 
sentimental  comedy.  Yet  it  must  not  be  thought  that  the 
field  of  which  he  took  possession  had  lain  hitherto  wholly 
undiscovered.  Perhaps  the  real  origin  of  sentimental 
comedy  should  be  sought  not  simply  in  the  moralized 
comedy  of  Gibber  but  in  the  somewhat  sentimentalized 
tragedy  of  0+way  and  Southerrie.  The  rising  tide  of  senti- 
ment invaded  the  entire  drama."  ^  It  overflowed  into 
other  forms  of  expression;  Richardson  and  Sterne,  for 
instance,  cultivated  it  in  the  novel.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
interesting  phenomena  in  iha  lit<  rature  of  the  century. 

Steele  himself,  spurred  by  Collier's  Short  View,  pro- 
ceeded to  write  four  plays  with  a  definite  moral  purpose : 
The  Funeral  (1701)  acted  with  success  at  Drury  Lane; 
The  Lying  Lov^.r  (1703),  an  excessively  pious  production; 
The  Tender  Husband  (1705),  perhaps  the  author's  best 
work  in  pure  comedy;  and  then,  after  a  period  of  essay- 
writing  for  the  Tatler,  the  Spectator,  and  the  Guardian, 

•  Nettleton,  154-56. 


156     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

The  Conscious  Lovers  (1722).  This  last  play  is  "  remark- 
able because  it  resumes  in  brief  all  Steele's  best  ideas  on 
life  and  character.  We  have  the  sketch  of  servants  whose 
natural  freshness  is  being  gradually  tainted  by  the  corrupt 
and  contagious  air  of  lackeydom ;  we  have  satire  on  mar- 
riages of  convenience,  duelling,  and  the  chicanery  of  the 
law;  a  glance  at  the  opposition  between  the  hereditary 
gentry  and  the  rising  commercial  class;  while,  in  Bevil 
junior,  Steele  portrays  his  ideal  of  a  gentleman,  chivalrous 
and  honorable  to  women,  considerate  to  men,  respectful  to 
his  father  and  self-controlled  amid  the  riotous  pleasures  of 
the  capital."  ®  Xo  plays  were  more  important  than  these 
of  Steele  in  the  transition  from  the  Restoration  comedy 
of  manners  to  the  drama  of  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
eentur^' ;  yet,  ^'  if  Steele  led  the  way  to  moral  reform,  he 
also  led  the  way  to  dramatic  decay.  The  appeal  of  Steele's 
sentimental  comedy  to  the  emotion  of  pity  became  with 
inferior  playwrights  a  false  emotional  motive ;  "  ^^  and, 
as  has  been  suggested,  "the  moral  reform  of  English 
drama  was  won  at  the  expense  of  almost  half  a  century 
during  which  Comedy  bowed  her  head  in  the  presence  of 
Sentimentality." 

62.  Joseph  Addison. — The  distinguished  essayist  of  the 
Spectator  (1672-1719),  a  staunch  classicist,  was  essen- 
tially a  critic  of  manners  and  literature,  and  not  primarily 
a  creative  dramatist ;  nevertheless  he  produced  at  least  one 
play  that  calls  for  mention  in  a  review  of  the  drama  of  the 
period.  At  Drury  Lane,  April  14,  1713,  appeared  Cato, 
a  play  built  on  the  theme  of  the  last  stand  of  a  pa- 
triot against  the  usurpation  of  Caesar.     The  year  was  that 

•  Routh:  "  Steele  and  Addison,"  in  C.  E.  E.  L.,  IX,  71-72. 
*•  Nettleton,  165. 


THE  RISE  OF  DEMOCRATIC  TENDENCIES     157 

of  tlie  Peace  of  Utrecht,  and  the  time  one  of  great  political 
excitement.  Both  Whigs  and  Tories  made  capital  of  the 
drama,  and  it  was  acted  in  London  five  times  a  week  for 
a  month  to  crowded  houses.  ''  It  pictures  the  last  of  the 
Koman  republicans,  a  statuesque  outline  magnanimous  and 
unmoved,  surrounded  by  a  treachery  which  is  baffled  by 
the  loyalty  of  his  sons  and  Juba,  accepting  death  rather 
than  dishonor,  and,  in  his  last  moments,  taking  thought  for 
those  around  him.  The  plot  is  twofold.  Side  by  side  with 
the  study  in  public  virtue  and  high  politics,  a  drama  of  the 
tender  passion  occupies  the  stage.  When  Cato's  son 
Marcius  dies  gallantly  fighting  against  the  traitor  Syphax, 
his  brother  wins  the  hand  of  Lucia,  for  which  they  had 
both  been  honorable  rivals,  and  Juba,  the  once  rejected 
suitor  of  Marcia,  Cato's  daughter,  romantically  rescues 
her  from  the  clutches  of  Sempronius  in  disguise  and  finds 
that  she  has  loved  him  all  the  time."  "  Cato  is  marked  by 
stately  rhetoric  and  cold  dignity,  and  the  characters  are 
not  lifelike ;  nevertheless,  as  the  play  united  the  "  grandiose 
projection  of  characters  "  that  the  public  admired  in  Mil- 
ton with  the  "  sentimental  chivalry  of  a  French  romance," 
it  was  a  success.  To  modern  taste,  however,  the  style  is 
00  declamatory  and  the  plot  full  of  improbabilities;  so 
^bat  the  work  remains  a  solitary  production  without  much 
influence  on  the  later  drama. 

Along  with  Addison  might  be  remarked  two  other  men 
who  represented  the  influence  of  French  tragedy  upon 
English,  and  especially  the  innucnce  of  Eaeine — Edmund 
Smith  and  Ambrose  Philips.  Smith'o  Phaedra  and  Hip- 
polytus  was  adapted  from  Phldre  and  Philips'^  The  Dis- 
irest  Mother  from  Andrormque,     For  the  first  of  these 

"Eouth:  "Steele  and  Addison,"  in  C,  E.  E.  L.,  IX,  71. 


158    A  SHOUT  HISTORY  OF  THE  EN-GLISH  DEAMA 

plays  Addison  wrote  the  prologue,  and  for  the  second  the 
epilogue.  The  Distrest  Mother  was  exceptionally  popular 
for  a  number  of  years. 

63.  Nicholas  Rowe. — A  final  and  important  figure  in 
the  transition  was  Nicholas  Kowe  (1674-1718),  who  car- 
ried oxev  '^vio  trap;r(!y  sonc+hing  of  Steele's  sentimen- 
talism  in  comedy,  and  who,  ^nile  largely  influenced  by 
classic  theory  and  method,  is  outstanding  among  the  dram^- 
atists  of  the  period  for  his  interest  in  Elizabethan  sub- 
jects. In  1709  he  published  his  famous  six-volume  edi- 
tion of  Shakespeare,  the  first  really  critical  edition  of  the 
dramatist,  and  from  1715  until  his  death  he  served  as  poet 
laureate.  He  was  an  accomplished  scholar,  a  translator 
of  merit,  and  a  man  of  engaging  personality  who  enjoyed 
great  esteem  for  his  talents. 

The  Fair  Penitent  (1703),  an  adaptation  from  The 
Fatal  Boivry  of  Massinger  and  Field,  was  one  of  the  most 
successful  tragedies  of  the  century.  Of  this  production 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  There  is  scarcely  any  work  of  any 
poet  so  interesting  by  the  fable  and  so  delightful  in  the  lan- 
guage." The  play  is  now  primarily  interesting,  however, 
as  an  piirhteenth  century  ver«Ton  of  Elizabethan  dramatic 
methods.  The  story  is  that  of  the  downfall  of  the  wife 
of  Young  Charalois  (Howe's  Altamont)  by  her  love  for 
Young  !N'ovall  (Howe's  Lothario).  This  story,  which  Mas- 
singer  so  tells  as  to  gain  respect  and  sympathy  for  the 
husband,  in  the  hand  of  Howe  shifts  interest  to  the 
villain.  Young  !N'ovall,  "  a  contemptible  dandy,  who 
triumphs  rather  by  his  cunning  than  by  his  personal  charm 
or  power  of  fascination,""^^  becomes  in  Lothario  a  lover 
"  whose  seductive  charm  is  exploited  with  every  lavish 

12  Hart :  Introduction  to  TJie  Fair  Penitent  and  Jane  Shore,  xUl. 


THE  EISE  OF  DEMOCRATIC  TENDENCIES    159 

device  of  rhetoric."  The  heroine,  Calista,  in  Eowe's  play 
indeed  satisfies  poetic  justice  by  her  death,  but  this  she 
seems  to  meet  without  any  real  inner  sense  of  regeneration. 
The  Fair  Penitent  turns  its  plot,  that  of  a  tragedy,  very 
largely  on  the  discovery  of  a  letter  and  really  completes  its 
action  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  act.  In  spite  of  any 
technical  shortcomings,  however,  the  play  was  not  without 
its  effective  scenes  and  undoubtedly  held  the  secret  of  ap- 
peal to  an  audience.  Tlie  Tragedy  of  Jane  Shore  (1714), 
professedly  "written  in  imicadou  uf  Shakespeare's  style," 
deals  with  the  sad  story  of  the  generous-hearted  woman 
who  unhappily  became  the  love  of  Edward  lY.  The 
characters  in  the  play  are  to  some  extent  drawn  from 
Richard  III,  but  there  the  resemblance  to  Shakespeare 
ends.  Jane  Shore,  however,  is  more  deeply  penitent 
than  Calista;  and  in  general  Rowe's  plays  were  much 
favored  by  great  performers,  and  held  their  own  on  the 
stage  well  into  the  nineteenth  century.  Tamerhne  (1702) , 
originally  intended  as  a  compliment  to  William  III,  with 
a  caricature  of  Louis  XIV  as  Bajazet,  was  regularly  per- 
formed in  London  on  November  5,  the  day  of  William's 
anniversary  and  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  until  1815. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  EEA  OF  SEISTTIMENTALISM  * 

64.  The  New  Age.  Drama  vs.  Novel. — The  second 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  marked  by  many 
conflicting  forces,  in  the  drama  as  in  other  forms  of  litera- 
ture and  life.  In  her  political  life  never  was  England 
more  complacent — more  inert — than  under  the  first  two 
Georges  and  Walpolo.  The  period  of  Classicism  was 
ascendant,  but  passing;  that  of  Eomanticism  had  not  yet 
reached  its  height;  and  realism  and  deism  were  in  the 
air.  F<  J  tl.e  moment  in  England  perhaps  no  one  fully 
perceived  the  drift  of  contending  forces.  Form  and  rule 
were  being  cast  aside,  it  is  true ;  but  something  very  like 
artistic  chaos  had  come.  The  effect  of  complacency  and 
liberalism  on  the  drama  was  inevitable.  "  As  the  demo- 
cratic ideas  of  the  Eeformation  more  and  more  prevailed 
in  English  life  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
the  drama  came  under  their  influence ;  and  before  Eichard- 

*  In  the  general  period  covered  by  the  present  chapter  the  work 
of  two  American  scholars  is  outstanding.  Professor  Nettleton,  of 
Yale,  the  pioneer  who  has  done  most  to  give  outline  to  the  period, 
contributed  "  The  Drama  and  the  Stage  "  to  Volume  X  of  the  Cam- 
"bridge  Eistory  of  English  TAteratvre.  This  discussion  he  afterwards 
revised  and  enlarged  in  his  book,  English  Drama  of  the  Restoration 
a/nd  Eighteenth  Century,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made. 
In  1915  appeared  The  Drama  of  ^ensihility,  by  Dr.  Ernest  Bern- 
baum,  of  Harvard  and  the  University  of  Illinois,  which  book  has  the 
importance  of  studying  an  important  phenomenon  through  the  entire 
course  of  its  development. 

160 


THE  ERA  OF  SENTIMENTALISM  161 

son  wrote  it  had  become  thoroughly  bourgeoi!5.''  ^  Eor  the 
drama  to  become  bourgeois,  however,  was  fatal ;  and  not 
unnaturally  it  gave  way  before  long  to  a  form  of  literature 
less  intense  and  better  adapted  to  the  life  of  the  common 
man — the  novel. 

One  thing  in  its  uncertainty  the  age  could  still  do, 
however;  it  could  criticize.  It  could  criticize  and  theo- 
rize. Shakespeare  and  Moliere,  Marlowe  and  Kacine, 
Sophocles  and  Dryden  were  all  before  it ;  and  it  could  de- 
cide for  itself  which  was  the  best  model  to  follow.  Withal 
there  was  beginning  some  genuine  pJudy  of  the  Eliza- 
bethans. Rowe's  editing  of  Shakespeare  and  Dennis'  criti- 
cism set  good  standards  for  those  who  came  afterwards; 
and  Dodslpy's  ColWMnn  of  Old  Plays  appeared  in  1744. 
Sometimes  controversy  became  lively.  In  1725,  for  in- 
stance, appeared  PoT>e's  edition  of  Shnkespeare.  The 
next  year  Lewis  Theobald  issued  a  pamphlet  with  the  title 
Shakespeare  Restored,  or  a  Specimen  of  the  many  Errors 
commuted  as  well  as  unnw^rilrd  hy  Mr.  Pope  ^'n  hh  late 
edition  of  this  Poet.  Theobald,  however,  whose  own  edi- 
tion of  Shakespeare  did  not  appear  until  1733,  was  in  the 
habit  of  contributing  notes  on  Shakespeare  to  a  weekly 
paper  called  Mist's  Journal.  This  Pope  termed  "  crucify- 
ing Shakespeare  once  a  week,"  and  he  made  Theobald  the 
original  hero  of  the  Dunciad.  Thus  the  feud  went  on,  with 
variations. 

The  eminent  critic  of  the  age,  however,  was  another 
Frenchman,  a  man  of  singular  importance  to  the  English 
stage.  In  1726  Voltaire  began  in  England  a  residence 
of  almost  three  years.     One  of  the  first  glimpses  we  catch 

*  Cross:  The  Development  of  the  English  Novel  (Macmillan,  New 
York,  1909),  59. 


162     A  SHORT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

of  him  is  in  connection  with  Congreve.  The  famous  dram* 
atist,  who  was  resting  on  his  laurels,  bore  honors  lightly 
and  on  the  basis  of  a  gentleman  rather  than  as  a  '^  repre- 
sentative of  literature ''  received  his  guest.  Voltaire, 
to  whom  literature  was  a  serious  business,  was  baffled 
and  remarked  in  substance  that  if  Congreve  had  been 
simply  a  gentleman  hr  'x^v'id  never  have  bother;  1  to  look 
him  up.  This  was  the  man  who  brought  to  England  a 
new  emphasis  on  classical  dramatic  theory  and  practice, 
and  yet  whose  own  work  shows  numerous  adaptations  from 
the  tY.&<tr,r  Shakespeare.  Yoltaiie  s  whole  attitude  toward 
Shakespeare  is  in  fact  a  baffling  problem.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  he  did  more  than  any  other  writer  of  the 
century  to  make  the  works  of  the  English  dramatist  fa- 
miliar on  the  Continent.  On  the  other  hand,  he  developed 
toward  Shakespeare  in  his  later  years  a  relentless  antago- 
nism. Sometimes  this  has  been  ascribed  to  personal  mo- 
tives. Much  of  it,  however,  is  doubtless  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  seventeenth  century  classicism  which  he  upheld  and 
the  influence  of  which  he  felt  that  Shakespeare  did  most 
to  undermine.  He  was  engaged  in  a  losing  fight,  but  he 
fought  to  the  very  end. 

Two  well-known  English  literary  men  were  also  in 
greater  or  less  degree  under  the  influence  of  French  classi- 
cal tracedv,  thou2:h  neither  was  primarily  a  dramatist. 
Edward  Young  (1648-1765),  the  poet  of  NigM  Thoughts, 
wrote  three  tragedies.  Basins  (1719)  was  in  blank  verse 
and  successful;  The  Revenae  (1721)  was  on  the  F''rench 
model  and  also  succeeded  for  a  while;  and  The  Brofhers 
(1728?)  was  withdrawn  in  rehenr^al  T;ec:iuse  of  the  au- 
thor's taking  holy  order?.  Jam^^s  Thomson  (1700-1748),  the 
poet  of  The  Seasons,  in  Sophonisba  (1730)  used  a  theme 


THE  ERA  OF  SENTIMENTALISM  163 

handled  fifty  years  previously  by  Lee.  In  this  play  the  char- 
acters declaim  but  hardly  act ;  moreover  a  certain  labored 
effect  in  the  phrasing  readily  loaned  itself  to  parody,  as  in 
the  line,  "  O  Sophonisba,  Sophonisba,  O !  "  AgatTiemnon 
(1738)  was  greeted  with  applause  by  a  splendid  audi- 
ence ;  Edward  and  Eleanor  a  was  rejected  by  the  censor  as 
praising  the  Prince  oi  , » ales  at  the  expense  of  the  court ; 
and  Tancred  and  Sigisrn^mda  (1745)  was  afterwards  used 
by  Garrick  with  considerable  success.  The  Masque  of  Al- 
fred (1740)  contained  the  ode  ^'  Eule,  Britannia !  "  Corio- 
lanus  (1749)  was  an  attempt,  hardly  successful,  to  adapt 
Shakespeare  in  conformity  with  the  dramatic  unities. 
Thomson  did  some  fair  work  in  the  drama ;  but  his  plays 
show  a  great  tendency  toward  rant  and  labored  expression, 
and  in  general  ho  represents  no  new  tendency. 

65.  Pantomime*  John  Rich. — In  the  uncertain  age 
under  discussion  regular  drama  had  to  encounter  various 
rivals  for  popular  favor.  One  of  these  was  pantomime. 
This  was  a  form  of  entertainment  not  altogether  unknown 
on  the  English  stage.  Ever  since  Gorhoduc  and  Hamlet 
there  had  been  some  representation  of  action  in  dumb- 
shows.  Mrs.  Aphra  Eehn  iiiOi cover  had  introduced  a 
Harlequin  into  one  of  her  productions,  and  for  John 
Weaver,  a  contemporary  of  Eich,  a  case  might  be  made 
out  as  tho  man  who  inirodnced  the  form  in  the  new  era. 
To  John  liich  (1628 'M761),  however,  the  reaJ  credit  of 
the  pantomime  belongs.  He  carried  the  form  to  such 
popularity  that  the  rival  theatres  of  Drury  Lane  and 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  were  able  to  advance  prices  on  panto- 
mime nights.  At  the  latter  playhouse  Rich  in  1723  com- 
peted successfully  with  Drury  Lane  in  a  performance  on 
the  subiect  of  Dr.  Faustus.    This  was  one  of  the  kinds  of 


164     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

entertainment  which  Gibber  regarded  as  an  encroachment 
on  the  drama  and  against  which  he  protested ;  but  panto- 
mime continued  to  hold  public  favor. 

66.  Ballad-Opera:  John  Gay. — To  his  successes  Eich 
was  destined  to  add  jet  another  rival  to  the  regular  drama. 
'At  Lincoln's  Inn  in  1728  he  produced  John  Gay's  The 
Beggar  s  Opera  and  thus  brought  before  the  public  a  new 
species  of  entertainment  with  emphasis  on  songs,  burlesque 
of  Italian  opera,  and  an  undercurrent  of  political  satire 
(in  this  case  specially  directed  against  Walpole).  The 
idea  of  the  new  piece  was  originally  suggested  to  Gay  by 
Swift.  Ballad-opera  at  once  became  immensely  popular; 
but  Gibber  still  held  aloof.  "If  the  judgment  of  the 
crowd  were  infallible,"  he  said,  "  I  am  afraid  we  shall 
be  reduced  to  allow  that  The  Beggar's  Opera  was  the  best- 
written  play  that  ever  our  English  theatre  had  to  boast 
of."  In  spite  of  its  great  success  with  the  public,  how- 
ever, the  production  was  officially  regarded  as  "  an  insolent 
performance  "  containing  "  the  most  venomous  allegorical 
libel  "  against  the  Government  that  had  appeared  in  years. 
Prom  this  point  of  view  of  political  satire  it  is  important 
not  only  on  it^^  own  account  but  as  anticipating  Fielding. 

67.  Domestic  Tragedy :  George  Lillo. — The  democratic 
tendencies  of  the  day  and  something  of  the  influence  of 
ballad-opera,  find  further  expression  in  the  work  of  George 
Lillo  (1693-1739),  who  is  primarily  remembered,  how- 
ever, as  a  representative  of  sentimentalism  and  domestic 
tragedy.  The  son  of  a  London  jeweller,  Lillo  was  well 
fitted  to  become  the  dramatist  of  domestic  life.  His  first 
venture,  Silvia,  or  The  Corinfry  Burial  (1730),  was  called 
a  ballad-opera,  which  in  this  case  signifies  not  much  more 
than  that  it  was  interspersed  with  songs.     The  perform- 


THE  ERA  OF  SENTIMENTALISM  165 

ance  at  Drury  Lane,  however,  of  The  London  Merchant  or 
The  History  of  George  Barnwell  (1731),  commonly 
known  as  George  Barnwell,  was  an  important  event  in 
English  dramatic  history.  Domestic  tragedy  was  not 
unknown  on  the  English  stage  from  the  time  of  Thomas 
Heywood  down  to  that  of  Rowe.  With  Lillo,  however,  it 
took  on  a  new  importance  and  came  closer  to  the  public 
than  ever  before.  The  story  is  that  of  a  merchant's  clerk 
who,  led  astray  by  a  courtesan,  Millwood,  embezzles 
money,  murders  his  uncle,  and  is  at  last  executed  for  his 
crime.  Throughout  his  trials  he  is  supported  and  com- 
forted by  Thorowgood,  his  employer,  Tnieman,  a  fellow- 
clerk,  and  Maria,  Thorowgood's  daughter.  Lillo  stated  that 
his  play  was  drawn  from  a  "  famed  old  song,"  referring 
to  "  The  Ballad  of  George  Barnwell."  ^  ''  In  the  ballad, 
neither  Maria  nor  Trueman  is  mentioned,  and  Thorow- 
good appears  only  as  a  nameless  master  for  whom  Barn- 
well has  no  affection.  Lillo's  Thorowgood  is  character- 
ized in  detail:  he  has  a  high  sense  of  the  dignity  of  the 
merchant  class,  a  fatherly  interest  in  young  men,  and  a 
pitying  and  forgiving  heart  in  the  hour  of  Barnwell's 
distress.  .  .  .  The  most  important  difference  between 
the  play  and  the  ballad  is  that  between  their  respective 
heroes.  The  Barnwell  of  the  ballad  is  not  placed  in  a 
flattering  light.  It  is  he  himself  who  thinks  of  murder- 
ing his  uncle;  and,  after  enjoying  the  latter's  hospitality, 
he  commits  the  deed  with  deliberation,  and  enjoys  its 
fruits  without  remorse.  He  brings  about  the  capture  of 
Millwood  by  his  testimony,  and  subsequently  perpetrates 

•  See  English  <md  Scottish  Popular  Ballads,  edited  by  F.  J.  Child, 
Boston,  1859  (VIII,  213).  The  ballad  is  also  easily  accessible  in 
Ward's  edition  of  The  London  Merchant  and  Fatal  Curiosity,  121-35. 


166     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

another  murder.'^  *  In  the  play  there  is  considerable 
change  from  all  this.  With  a  certain  sense  of  chivalry 
Barnwell  protects  Millwood;  after  he  has  resolved  never 
to  see  her  again  he  is  won  back  only  through  an  appeal  to 
his  sympathy  for  her  supposed  troubles;  and  his  com- 
mitting of  the  murder  is  not  much  more  than  an  acci- 
dent. "  Throughout  the  last  two  acts  his  penitence  is 
extreme ;  and  his  final  endeavor  is  to  save  the  soul  of  the 
woman  who  has  so  vilely  betrayed  him." 

"  We  may  safely  conclude  that  the  audiences  which 
crowded  to  the  early  performances  of  The  London  'Mer- 
chant troubled  themselves  little  about  either  the  artistic 
defects  or  the  artistic  merits  of  the  play.  What  they  wel- 
comed in  Lillo's  tragedy  was^  in  the  first  instance,  the 
courage  with  which,  resuming  the  native  freedom  of  the 
English  drama,  he  had  chosen  his  theme  from  a  sphere  of 
experience  immediately  familiar  to  them;  and,  secondly, 
the  plainness  of  the  moral  which  he  enforced,  and  the 
direct  way  in  which  he  enforced  it/'  ^ 

In  The  Christian  Hero  (1735)  Lillo  wrote  tragedy  of  a 
more  eoiiveniionai  type.  He  used  blank  verse  and  dealt 
not  with  a  London  apprentice  but  a  "  patriot  king,"  shift- 
ing the  scene  from  London  to  Albania.  In  Fatal  Cnri- 
osity  (1736),  however,  while  still  using  blank  verse,  he 
reverted  to  domestic  tragedy. 

"  In  the  history  of  English  drama,  Lillo  holds  a  posi- 
tion wholly  disproportionate  to  his  actual  dramatic  achieve- 
ment. Like  D'Avenant,  his  importance  is  chiefly  that  of 
a  pioneer.  [He]  set  in  motion  powerful  forces  that 
pointed  toward  natural  tragedy.  He  deliberately  put 
aside  the  dignity  of  rank  and  title  and  the  ceremony  of 

*  Bernbaum,  153.  "Ward:  Introduction,  xxxii. 


THE  ERA  OF  SENTIMENTALISM  167 

verse.  He  animated  domestic  drama,  and  paved  the  way 
for  prose  melodrama  and  tragedy.  ...  To  [his]  influence 
on  the  subjects  of  English  tragedy  must  be  added  his  no 
less  marked  influence  upon  its  language.  He  deliberately 
adopted  prose  as  the  vehicle  of  expression  for  domestic 
traofedy.  He  accepts,  indeed,  the  convention  of  rime-tags 
at  the  end  of  every  act  and  at  the  conclusion  of  some 
scenes  during  the  act;  but  his  main  intent  is  to  give 
domestic  drama  the  vocabulary  and  phrase  that  suit  his 
theme." "" 

Iv  connection  with  Lillo  may  be  mentioned  Edward 
IVlooro  (1712-1757),  who  also  knew  the  London  trading 
class,  having  served  as  apprentice  to  a  mercer.  His 
comedy,  The  Fowidling  (1748),  indebted  for  some  sug- 
gestion to  Steele's  2'he  Conscious  Lovers,  was  fairly  suc- 
cessful. His  representative  production,  however,  was 
The  Gamester  (1753),  an  attack  on  the  evils  of  gambling. 
In  this  work  Moore  labored  imder  some  restraint,  and 
generally  he  showed  the  career  of  the  gambler  "by 
effect  rather  than  by  cause ; "  thus  he  sacrificed  con- 
siderable dramatic  possibility  when  he  kept  any  actual 
gaming  off  the  stage.  The  play,  however,  in  spite  of  all 
shortcomings,  was  a  distinct  success  and  furnished  Gar- 
rick  with  a  leading  role.  Especially  effective  from  the 
sentimental  standpoint  was  the  scene  in  the  last  act  be- 
tween Eevevley  and  his  wife. 

68.  Burlesque:  Henry  Fielding. — Henry  Fielding 
(1707-1754),  the  distinguished  journalist  and  novelist, 
walks  amid  the  sentimental  comedy  and  the  domestic 
tragedy  of  his  day  with  a  cool  head,  a  slight  smile  of 
cynicism,    and    a   general    air    of    detachment.     He  has 

•  Nettletoii,  C.  H.  E.  L.,  X,  85-88. 


168     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

breadth  and  keenness  and  delicate  irony.  The  one  thing 
he  lacks  is  the  thing  that  Jonson  lacked,  and  that  any 
satirist  is  in  danger  of  lacking — charm.  He  has  a  keen 
sense  of  the  right,  and  a  good  heart,  but  no  poetry.  "  The 
first  decade  of  [his]  literary  career  was  given  over  to  the 
production  of  twenty-six  comic  plays  of  various  sorts  and 
conditions — regular  comedies,  adaptations  from  Moliere, 
farces,  satirical  pieces,  and  burlesque."  ^  In  the  history 
of  the  drama  he  is  remembered  primarily  for  his  bur- 
lesques, of  which  the  outstanding  example  is  The  Tragedy 
of  Tragedies,  or  The  IJife  and  Death  of  Tom  Thumb  the 
Great  (first  form,  1730).  In  this  production  he  makes 
ridiculous  the  tragedy  Ghost,  parodies  lines  from  various 
plays,  commits  half  a  dozen  murders  in  as  many  lines,  and 
also  echoes  the  noise  of  the  Shakespearean  wars  that  have 
already  begun. ^  Somewhat  more  constructively  Fielding 
labored  to  give  genuine  comedy  and  farce  a  place  on  the 
stage. 

Historically,  in  legislation  affecting  the  stage.  Fielding 
has  further  importance.  In  1736,  as  manager  of  the  Hay- 
market,  he  produced  Pasquin,  ^^  a  dramatic  satire  on  the 
times,"  in  which  the  bribery  and  other  political  methods 
of  Walpole  were  rather  boldly  suggested.  The  next  year, 
however,  he  went  still  further  with  The  Historical  Register 
for  1136,  referring  again  to  Walpole,  satirizing  Colley 
and  Theophilus  Gibber,  and  indulging  in  much  social  pas- 
quinade as  well.  A  movement  for  the  restriction  of  the 
license  of  the  theatres  had  for  some  time  been  under  way, 

'  Hillhouse:  "  The  Tragedy  of  Tragedies,"  1. 

®  For  an  interesting  analysis  of  the  play  and  comparison  with 
The  Rehearsal  and  The  Critic,  see  the  introduction  to  it  in  F. 
Tupper  and  J.  W.  Tupper's  Representative  English  Dramas. 


THE  ERA  OF  SENTIMENTALIS:\I  169 

and  Walpole  had  begun  to  regard  Fielding  as  a  most 
dangerous  enemy.  Accordingly  ^'  the  Licensing  Act  of 
1737  limited  the  metropolitan  theatres  to  two,  and  brought 
plays,  prologues  and  epilogues  under  direct  legal  au- 
thority. .  .  .  With  the  passage  of  this  act  and  the 
appointment  of  a  licenser  under  his  jurisdiction,  in  1738, 
the  Lord  Chamberlain  was  formally  invested  with  the 
censorship  of  the  Stage.'^  ^  There  was  considerable  popu- 
lar indignation  and  some  rioting;  nevertheless  henceforth 
the  stage  acknowledged  the  authority  of  the  censor,  and 
the  dramatic  career  of  Fielding  was  ended.  He  now 
turned  to  the  composition  of  his  novels,  and  English  litera- 
ture was  richer  by  the  exchange. 

69.  Adaptation:  David  Garrick. — David  Garrick 
(1717-1779),  as  the  greatest  actor  of  the  middle  of  the 
century,  belongs  rather  to  the  history  of  the  English  stage 
than  to  that  of  the  drama.  !N'evertheless,  even  if  he  had 
lever  made  his  adaptations  from  other  dramatists,  he  would 
still  deserve  mention  on  his  own  account.  In  1767,  with 
George  Colman,  he  wrote  The  Clandestine  Marriage,  and 
among  the  other  plays,  sketches,  and  farces  attributed  to 
him  are  The  Lying  Valet,  in  two  acts, ^Lethe,  "  a  dramatic 
satire,"  Lillijmt,  "  a  dramatic  entertainment,"  The  En-- 
chanter,  or  Love  and  Magic,  "a  musical  drama,"  The 
Farmer's  Betvrn  from  London,  "  an  interlude,"  The  Irish 
Widow,  in  two  acts,  Bon  Ton,  or  High  Life  above  Stairs, 
in  two  acts,  etc.  The  adapia lions  are  from  numerous 
sources ;  altogether  Garrick  produced  more  than  a  score  of 
the  plays  of  Shakespeare  alone.  One  meets  such  titles  as 
Borneo  and  Juliet,  "  with  alterations,  and  an  additional 
scene ; "  The  Fairies,  "  taken  from  A  Midsumnmr  Night's 

•  Nettleton,  222. 


170     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Dream;  "  Catherine  arid  Petrucliio,  "  a  comedy  in  three 
acts;"  The  Country   Girl,  ^'altered  from  Wycherley;'' 
Alfred:  a  Masque,  "  with  some  few  alterations,  and  with 
some  new  music/'  etc.    Modern  scholarship,  with  its  great 
emphasis  on  faithfulness  to  text,  sometimes  deplores  the 
liberties  taken  with  Shakespeare  by  Gibber  and  Garrick. 
These  were  men,  however,  who  held  aloft  the  ideal  of  the 
drama  in  their  day,  and  preserved  a  great  tradition.     The 
atmosphere  of  the  scholar's  cloister  is  very  different  from 
that  of  the  eighteenth  century  theatre  with  the  sweep  of 
Garrick  or  Peg  Woffington.     In  a  large  way  adaptation 
was  to  be  attributed  to  the  change  that  had  come  over  the 
art   of  the   actor.      James   Quin    (1693-1756),   the  last 
tragedian  of  the  old  school,  recognized  this  when  he  said  of 
Garrick  that  "  if  the  young  fellow  was  right,"  he  and  the 
rest  of  the  players  had  been  all  wrong;   and  far  more 
significant  than  might  have  been  realized  at  the  time  was 
Eich's  dismissal  of  Charles  Macklin  from  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields.     In  the  new  day  the  actor's  own  personality  was 
capitalized,  and  the  mere  text  of  a  play  was  often  a  very 
secondary  consideration.     Macklin  was  the  first  who  thus 
brought  his  personality  into  his  interpretations,  and  Gar- 
rick was  the  foremost  exponent  of  the  school. 

Two  other  names,  of  persons  who  enjoyed  quite  a  vogue 
in  their  own  day,  are  at  least  worthy  of  mention  in  con- 
nection with  the  Garrick  era.  William  Whitehead  (1715- 
1785),  poet  laureate  in  his  later  years,  with  The  Roman 
Father  (1750),  a  classical  tragedy,  won  a  success 
comparable  with  that  of  Philips's  The  Distrust  Mother. 
Isaac  Bickerstaff  (1735  ?-1812  ?)  was  popular  as  a  play- 
wright, but  is  best  remembered  as  a  librettist,  his  repre- 
sentative production  being  The  Padlock  (1768),  a  musical 


THE  ERA  OF  SENTIMENTALISM  171 

entertainment  that  received  more  than  fifty  performances 
at  Drnry  Tap^. 

70.  Romanticism :  J  ohn  Home — In  the  general  poverty 
of  original  drama  in  the  middle  of  the  century  John  Home 
(1722-1808),  of  Scotland,  stands  out  with  unusual  dis- 
tinctness. A  keen  student  of  classical  literature,  and  a 
minister  at  East  Lothian,  Home  wrote  altogether  six 
plays,  and  by  the  great  success  of  his  Dounlas  he  so 
awakened  the  opposition  of  his  kirk  that  he  was  forced 
to  anticipate  dismissal  by  withdrawal.  On  its  com- 
pletion in  1754  he  offered  to  Garrick  his  first  tragedy, 
Agis^  but  met  a  refusal.  The  next  year  he  made  a  horse- 
back journey  to  London  to  offer  Douglas  to  the  same  man- 
ager, but  met  a  similar  response.  In  his  own  Scotland, 
however.  Home  fared  better,  and  Douglas  was  produced  at 
the  Canongate  Theatre  in  Edinburgh  December  14,  175 G. 
The  success  of  the  play  surpassed  all  expectations,  and 
Home  received  from  his  countrymen  the  most  extrava- 
gant compliments.  Hume,  the  philosopher  and  historian, 
said  that  he  possessed  '^  the  true  theatric  genius  of  Shake- 
speare and  Otway,  refined  from  the  unhappy  barbarism 
of  the  one  and  the  licentiousness  of  the  other."  The 
following  March,  Eich,  ever  on  the  alert,  produced  the 
play  at  Covent  Garden;  and  its  London  success  was  so 
great  that  Garrick  now  accepted  Agis  and  himself  played 
the  leading  part.  This  play,  however,  impressed  the 
public  as  cold  and  dull  and  Home's  other  productions  fared 
little  better.  He  received  various  honors  and  lived  for 
some  years  into  the  next  century ;  but  he  had  to  be  content 
with  his  one  great  success. 

The  story  of  Douglas  ^^  is  as  follows :  Lady  Randolph, 
"  See  Gipson:  John  Home,  for  this  and  other  relevant  discussion. 


172     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

years  before  the  time  of  the  play,  had  entered  into  a 
secret  marriage  with  Douglas,  whose  family  and  hers  were 
bitter  enemies.  Soon  after  the  marriage  Douglas  went  to 
•war  and  was  killed.  Lady  Randolph,  fearing  her  father's 
anger,  sent  her  child  away  when  it  was  born  and  did  not 
hear  again  of  her  son  or  of  the  servant  who  took  him  away, 
though  she  never  ceased  to  grieve  for  her  husband  and 
the  boy.  In  the  play  Lord  Randolph  enters  bringing  a 
youth  who  has  saved  him  from  a  band  of  outlaws.  To  this 
youth,  a  shepherd  in  whom  Lady  Randolph  feels  the  deep- 
est interest,  Lord  Randolph  promises  his  protection.  Glen- 
alvon,  the  villain  of  the  play,  however,  is  in  love  with  Lady 
Randolph  and  has  resolved  to  destroy  her  husband  at  the 
first  opportunity.  After  Lord  Randolph  and  the  youth. 
Young  Nerval,  have  left  for  the  camp,  an  old  shepherd 
is  brought  to  Lady  Randolph.  By  the  jewels  found  upon 
him  she  learns  that  Young  jSTorval  is  her  son,  that  he  had 
been  rescued  by  Old  is^orval  in  a  storm  and  brought  up 
as  a  shepherd.  Lady  Randolph  now  makes  arrangements 
for  a  secret  interview  with  her  son.  One  is  held  and  an- 
other arranged  for.  Glenalvon,  hearing  of  the  plan,  leads 
Lord  Randolph  to  the  secret  meeting-place,  and  he  and  the 
youth  fight.  Glenalvon,  coming  up  in  the  rear,  stabs 
Young  l^orval,  who,  however,  kills  him.  before  he  himself 
dies.  Lady  Randolph,  distracted  at  all  that  has  hap- 
pened, leaps  off  a  cliff ;  and  Lord  Randolph,  having  learned 
how  he  was  deceived,  in  his  remorse  leaves  for  the  wars, 
from  which  he  hopes  never  to  return. 

This  play  has  been  much  discounted  within  recent  years, 
and  even  in  its  ow^n  day  Johnson  said  that  there  were  not 
ten  good  lines  in  it.  The  reasons  for  its  success  with  its 
generation,  however,  are  evident.     The  drama  was  essen- 


THE  ERA  OF  SENTIMENTALISM  173 

tially  romantic  and  has  many  sympathetic  and  natural 
touches.  Douglas  really  sounded  a  note  that  was  to  be 
heard  more  or  less  frequently  for  a  hundred  years.  If 
such  a  speech  as 

My  name  is  Norval :  on  the  Grampian  hills, 
My  father  feeds  his  flocks, 

now  seems  heckneyed,  the  part  of  Lady  Randolph  in  the 
hands  of  Peg  Woffington,  or,  later,  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  was 
triumphant;  and  when  all  possible  discount  is  nxade, 
Douglas  still  remains  the  strongest  original  English  drama 
that  appeared  between  George  Barmvell  (1731)  and  She 
Stoops  to  Conquer  (1773). 

71.  Pure  Comedy:  Foote  and  Colman. — Meanwhile 
something  of  the  spirit  of  pure  comedy  and  the  tradition 
of  Fielding  was  preserved  and  carried  forward  in  the 
work  of  Samuel  Foote  and  George  Colman,  so-called  the 
elder,  to  distinguish  him  from  his  son  of  the  same  name 
who  was  a  dramatist  nearer  the  close  of  the  century. 

Samuel  Foote  (1720-1777),  comedian  and  mimic,  was 
famous  in  his  day  for  his  impersonations.  In  his 
earlier  years  on  the  stage,  in  Dublin,  lie  iiuroduced  vari- 
ous caricatures  into  the  part  of  Bayes  in  The  Rehearsal. 
Later  there  seemed  to  be  no  limit  to  the  freedom  with 
which  he  mimicked  on  the  stage  prominent  figures  of  the 
day,  though  seldom  did  he  really  offend  by  his  work. 
"  Did  he  not  think  of  exhibiting  you,  sir  ?  "  asked  Boswell 
of  Johnson.  "  Sir,''  replied  the  sage,  "  fear  restrained 
him,  for  he  knew  I  would  have  broken  his  bones."  Foote's 
original  productions  were  most  frequently  short  clever 
farces,  sometimes  satirical  in  quality.  The  Englishman 
at  Paris   (1753)    and  The  Englishman  Returned  from 


174     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Paris  (1756)  dealt  'with  the  French  character  so  as  to 
appeal  to  the  English.  The  Mi/nor  (1760)  satirized  White- 
field  and  the  Methodists,  while  The  ¥(tid  of  Bath  (1771) 
handled  rather  freely  the  early  life  of  Elizabeth  Linley, 
the  popular  singer  of  the  day  who  becam,e  the  wife  of 
Sheridan.  Foote's  work  may  easily  be  overrated.  It  de- 
pended for  its  strength  mainly  upon  personal  caricature 
and  the  gossip  of  the  hour. 

Of  somewhat  different  quality  was  Ge^^^ge  Colmaii 
(1732-1794),  who  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  education  at 
Westminster  and  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  The  Jealous 
Wife  (1761), ^one  of  the  most  popular  comedies  of  the  day, 
was  mainly  a  dramatization  of  Tom  Jones,  several  of  the 
prominent  characters  being  changed  only  in  name.  The 
ClandeMine  Marriage  (1766)  has  already  been  remarked 
as  the  result  of  collaboration  with  Garrick.  A  quarrel 
arose  between  the  two  men  over  the  refusal  of  Garrick 
to  assum,e  the  role  of  Lord  Oglesby  in  this  play,  and  affairs 
were  not  improved  when  Colman  became  manager  of 
Covent  Garden.  Later,  however,  there  was  a  reconcilia- 
tion. "  A  member  of  the  Literary  Club,  a  successful  dram- 
atist and  manager,  a  translator  of  the  comedies  of  Ter- 
ence, an  editor  of  the  dramatic  works  of  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher,  a  writer  of  prologues  and  epilogues,  among  them 
the  epilogue  to  The  School  for  Scandal,  George  Colman  the 
elder  was  a  notable  figure  in  the  theatrical  and  literary 
world  of  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century."  ^^ 

72.  Sentimentalism :  Kelly  and  Cumberland. — In  the 
midst  of  pantomime  and  ballad-opera,  burlesque  and  ro- 
manticism, however,  sentimentalism  moved  steadily  on- 
ward in  its  course  and  rose  to  its  height.     The  origins  of 

"Nettleton,  262-63. 


THE  ERA  OF  SENTIMENTALISM  175 

this  phenomenon  are  far  to  seek,  and  something  of  its 
story  depends  upon  a  misinterpretation  of  Plautus  and 
Terence/^  For  the  present  purpose,  however.  Gibber's 
Love's  Last  Shift  (1696)  is  a  convenient  starting-point. 
This  is  the  story  of  ''  a  woman  of  strict  virtue,"  Amanda, 
who,  deserted  by  her  husband,  Loveless,  later  reclaims  him 
by  placing  herself  in  a  compromising  position.  Steele's 
The  Lifrng  Lover  (1703)  and  Gibber's  TliP.  Careless  Hus- 
hand  (1704)  had  similar  sentimental  tendencies,  and  after 
these  plays  the  type  was  fairly  well  established.  Gom- 
paratively  little  original  work  was  done  in  the  drama  be- 
tween 1710  and  1728,^^  when  Gibber's  The  Provoled  Hus- 
hand  appeared.  In  1781  was  produced  George  Barnwell; 
but  between  1732  and  1750  the  drama  of  sensibility  lan- 
guished, while  Akenside  and  Gollins  in  poetry  and  Eich- 
ardson  in  the  novel  carried  the  influence  over  into  other 
forms  of  literature.  Then  came  revival  with  Moore" s  The 
Gamester  (1753)  and  other  work  down  to  Kelly  and  Gum- 
berland, 

Hugh  Kelly  (1739-1777)  lives  primarily  by  reason  of 
one  strong  and  popular  comedy^  False  Ddicacy,  presented 
at  Govent  Garden  January  23,  1768.  The  leading  char- 
acters in  this  play  are  unusually  refined  and  are  placed  in  a 
delicate  situation.  "  Lady  Betty  [Lambton]  has  a  de- 
pendent friend.  Miss  Marchmont.  Lord  Winworth  re- 
quests Lady  Betty  to  convey  to  Miss  Marchmont  his  offer 
of  marriage,  and  to  urge  its  acceptance.  The  offer  distresses 
both  the  young  women;  for  Lady  Betty  is  herself  in  love 
with  Winworth,  though  she  has  formerly  rejected  him ;  and 
Miss  Marchmont  loves  another  man,  but  feels  that  her 
obligations  to  Lady  Betty  are  so  great  as  to  make  it  im- 

"  See  Bernbaum,  Chapter  II.  *•  Berabaum,  225. 


176     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

possible  to   disregard  her  apparent  wishes.     Lord  Win- 
worth  presently  realizes  that  it  is  still  Lady  Betty  whom 
he  loves,  but  he  feels  that  a  withdrawal  of  his  proposal 
to  Miss  Marchmont  would  be  dishonorable.     Thus  the 
motives  of  these  characters  are  of  the  highest.''  ^^     This 
play  has  been  variously   interpreted.      One   critic  says, 
"  The  very  title  of  Kelly's  comedy  is,  in  fact,  evidence 
that  sentimental  delicacy  may  be  carried  to  false  extremes. 
Yet  with   every   allowance   of   non-sentimental   elements 
in  Kelly's  work,  it  remains  indisputable  that  the  primary 
appeal  of  the  dramatist  is  to  sentimental  emotion.     The 
chief  personages  voice  their   sentiments   and   emit  their 
moral  platitudes  in  sober  earnest  and  with  a  reformer's 
zeal.     Their  speeches  are  without  the  irony  with  which 
Sheridan  turned  sentimental  rant  to  hypocritical  cant  in 
the  mouth  of  Joseph  Surface.    .    .    .   With  False  Delicacy 
the  stage  has  become  a  school  of  morality."  ^*     Another 
says,  however :  ^'  Such  was  the  success  of  False  Delicacy, 
and  such  the  superficiality  of  contemporary  criticism,  that 
tjie  play  came  to  be  regarded  as  one  which  carried  senti- 
mentalism  to  an  extreme,  and  was  by  enemies  of  sentimen- 
tal comedy  declared  to  be  destitute  of  humor:  when,  as  a 
a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  a  peculiar  variation  of  the  type, 
and  sometimes  satirizes  the  very  tendency  it  is  supposed  to 
support."  ^^ 

Eichard  Cumberland  (1732-1811)  was  largely  influ- 
enced by  Kelly,  but  coming  even  as  late  as  he  did  seems 
to  have  regarded  himself  as  the  real  creator  of  sentimental 
drama.  A  native  of  Cambridge,  the  nephew  of  Dr.  Rich- 
ard Bentley,  Cumberland  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  training 
at  Westminster  and  Trinity  College.    He  wrote  more  than 

*  •  Bernbaum,  225.  *  *  Nettleton,  271.  "  Bernbaum,  226. 


THE  ERA  OP  SENTIMENTALISM  177 

fifty  dramatic  pieces.  The  Brothers  (1769),  one  of  tlie 
earlier  plays,  was  an  unquestioned  success.  Cumberland's 
real  reputation,  however,  is  based  on  The  West  Indian 
(1771).  Conscious  that  this  play  would  be  regarded  as 
his  masterpiece,  he  ^'  recorded  in  his  Memoirs  the  place 
and  the  circumstances  of  its  composition  with  a  particu- 
larity and  seriousness  resembling  Gibbon's  on  an  incom- 
parably worthier  occasion."  ^^  He  might  be  excused 
for  being  proud  of  his  achievement.  The  four  char- 
acters that  are  at  the  center  of  the  action  are  young  Bel- 
cour,  the  West  Indian,  Lady  Eusport,  and  Charles  and 
Louisa  Dudley,  children  of  a  retired  captain.  Belcour 
was  believed  by  his  grandfather  to  be  a  foundling.  He 
has  prospects  of  an  inheritance  and  goes  to  London  to 
Stockwell,  the  merchant.  Lady  Rusport  has  rejected 
Charles  Dudley  because  of  his  poverty.  In  reality,  how- 
ever, her  fortune  belongs  to  Dudley,  and  she  bribes  her 
lawyer  to  destroy  the  will  proving  this.  Louisa  Dudley 
is  the  intended  victim  of  a  design  of  Belcour's.  The  land- 
lady who  aids  this  design  is  baffled,  however,  and  the  hero 
at  length  honorably  wins  Louisa.  Major  O'Flaherty 
moreover,  an  Irish  officer,  makes  known  the  secret  of  the 
will,  so  that  Dudley  and  Miss  Rusport  are  also  united; 
and  there  is  the  further  disclosure  of  the  fact  that  Stock- 
well  is  in  reality  Belcour's  father.  The  questionable 
ethics  in  this  plot  needs  no  comment ;  by  an  ingenious  rear- 
rangement of  old  themes,  however,  Cumberland  produced 
a  play  that  became  very  popular.  He  deliberately  made 
a  West  Indian  and  an  Irishman  his  heroes ;  Belcour  re- 
ceives many  suggestions  from  Tom  Jones,  and  Major 
O'Flaherty  is  a  prototype  of  Sir  Lucius  O'Trigger.  As  in 
"  Bernbaum,  237. 


178     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

the  admirable  person  of  the  Major,  Cumberland  tried  to 
overcome  a  national  prejudice  against  the  Irish,  so  in 
Colin  Macleod  in  The  Fashioriahh  Lover  (1772)  he  tried 
to  do  away  with  any  lingering  feeling  against  the  Scotch. 
73.  Summary  of  the  Period. — It  is  evident  that  in  the 
period  we  have  been  considering  the  legitimate  drama  was 
subjected  to  many  opposing  forces.  Such  forms  of  enter- 
tainment as  pantomime  and  ballad-opera  naturally  raised 
some  question  with  the  orthodox,  while  the  embarrassing 
Licensing  Act  largely  accounts  for  the  comparative  dearth 
of  new  plays  and  the  numerous  adaptations  from  old  ones 
by  such  a  manager  as  Garrick.  To  this  must  be  added  the 
consideration  of  the  popularity  of  the  novel,  the  new 
form  of  literature  that  so  rapidly  developed  in  an  age 
emphasizing  common  sentiment.  The  legitimate  drama 
moreover  was  itself  not  altogether  certain  of  its  channel. 
The  romantic  impulses  showed  the  possibility  of  develop- 
ment in  a  direction  largely  new.  For  the  most  part,  how- 
ever, the  form  struggled  under  the  weight  of  sentimental- 
ism,  an  influence  that  reached  its  height  within  the  period. 
Already  the  forces  of  revolt  against  it  were  gathering. 
The  burlesque  of  Fielding  was  only  the  prelude  to  the 
encounter.  The  tearful  and  pathetic  Muse  had  had  her 
day  and  was  soon  to  be  driven  from  the  scene  by  the  more 
genuine  comedy  of  Goldsmith  and  Sheridan. 


CHAPTER  X 
GOLDSMITH  AND  SHERIDA:Nr 

74.  Reaction  from  Sentimentalism. — For  some  years 
now  sentimentalism  had  been  regnant  as  an  influence  in 
the  English  Drama,  and  Richardson  and  Sterne  had  carried 
the  impulse  into  the  novel.  The  forces  of  reaction  were 
gathering,  however,  and  were  soon  to  make  themselves 
felt  with  no  uncertain  sound.  We  have  already  seen  how 
such  a  man  as  Fielding  burlesqued  the  tearful  produc- 
tions of  his  day ;  and  even  when  he  passed  to  the  composi- 
tion of  his  novels  the  great  realist  did  not  cease  his  at- 
tack. He,  however,  was  mainly  destructive.  It  remained 
for  Oliver  Goldsmith  constructively  to  show  the  way  to  sl 
healthier  and  saner  comedy. 

For  some  years  those  who  favored  the  sentimental  drama 
had  dignified  this  by  the  word  "  genteel."  Anything  that 
dealt  with  common  people,  however  rich  might  be  its  dra- 
matic possibilities,  was  stigmatized  as  "  low."  Goldsmith 
first  took  up  the  cudgels  of  the  attack  in  1759,  in  the 
preface  to  Tho  Present  State  of  Polite  Learning.  Said 
he :  "  By  the  power  of  one  single  monosyllable  our  critics 
have  almost  got  the  victory  over  humour  amongst  us. 
Does  the  poet  paint  the  absurdities  of  the  vulgar ;  then  he  is 
low ;  does  he  exaggerate  the  features  of  folly,  to  render  it 
more  thoroughly  ridiculous,  he  is  then  very  low\  In  short, 
they  have  proscribed  the  comic  or  satirical  muse  from 

179 


180     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRA]\L\ 

every  walk  but  high  life,  which,  though  abounding  in  fools 
as  well  as  the  humblest  station,  is  by  no  means  so  fruitful 
in  absurdity.  Among  well-bred  fools  we  may  despise 
much,  but  have  little  to  laugh  at ;  nature  seems  to  present 
us  with  a  universal  blank  of  silk,  ribbands,  smiles,  and 
whispers ;  absurdity  is  the  poet's  game,  and  good  breeding 
is  the  nice  concealment  of  absurdities.''  ^  More  relentlessly 
did  he  return  to  the  attack  in  1772  after  the  rather  cool 
reception  given  to  his  first  play  and  before  his  second 
had  as  yet  appeared  before  the  public.  In  December  of 
this  year  he  contributed  to  the  Westminster  Magazine,  An 
Essay  on  the  Theatre;  or  A  Cormparison  between  Laugh- 
ing and  Sentimental  Comedy,  in  which  he  spoke  in  part 
as  follows :  "  Comedy  is  defined  by  Aristotle  to  be  a  pic- 
ture of  the  frailties  of  the  lower  part  of  mankind,  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  tragedy,  which  is  an  exhibition  of  the  mis- 
fortunes of  the  gi-eat.  When  comedy,  therefore,  ascends  to 
produce  the  characters  of  princes  or  generals  upon  the 
stage,  it  is  out  of  its  walks,  since  low  life  and  middle  life 
are  entirely  its  object.  The  principal  question,  therefore, 
is,  whether,  in  describing  low  or  middle  life,  an  exhibition 
of  its  follies  be  not  preferable  to  a  detail  of  its  calamities  ? 
Or,  in  other  words,  which  deserves  the  preference, — the 
weeping  sentimental  comedy  so  much  in  fashion  at  present, 
or  the  laughing,  and  even  low  comedy,  which  seems  to  have 
been  last  exhibited  by  Vanbrugh  and  Gibber  ?  If  we  apply 
to  authorities,  all  the  great  masters  in  the  dramatic  art 
have  but  one  opinion.  .  .  .  Yet  notwithstanding  this 
weight  of  authority,  and  the  universal  practice  of  former 
ages,  a  new  species  of  dramatic  composition  has  been  intro- 

1  See  Dohson :    Introduction  to  The  Good  Natur^d  Mem  and  She 
Stoops  to  Conquer,  xiii. 


GOLDSMITH  AND  SHERIDAN  181 

duced,  under  the  name  of  sentimental  comedy,  in  which 
the  virtues  of  private  life  are  exhibited,  rather  than  the 
vices  exposed;  and  the  distresses  rather  than  the  faults 
of  mankind  make  our  interest  in  the  piece.  These  come- 
dies have  had  of  late  great  success,  perhaps  from  their 
novelty,  and  also  from  their  flattering  every  man  in  his 
foible.  In  these  plays  almost  all  the  characters  are  good, 
and  exceedingly  generous ;  they  are  lavish  enough  of  their 
tin  money  on  the  stage;  and  though  they  want  humour, 
have  abundance  of  sentiment  and  feeling.  If  they  happen 
to  have  faults  or  foibles,  the  spectator  is  taught,  not  only 
to  pardon,  but  to  applaud  them,  in  consideration  of  the 
goodness  of  their  hearts;  so  that  folly,  instead  of  being 
ridiculed,  is  commended,  and  the  comedy  aims  at  touching 
our  passions  without  the  power  of  being  truly  pathetic.  In 
this  manner  we  are  likely  to  lose  one  great  source  of  enter- 
tainment on  the  stage ;  for  while  the  comic  poet  is  invad- 
ing the  province  of  the  tragic  muse,  he  leaves  her  lovely 
sister  quite  neglected.  Of  this,  however,  he  is  no  way 
solicitous,  as  he  measures  his  fame  by  his  profits.  .  .  . 
But  there  is  one  argument  in  favour  of  sentimental 
comedy,  which  will  keep  it  on  the  stage,  in  spite  of  all 
that  can  be  said  against  it.  It  is,  of  all  others,  the  most 
easily  written.  Those  abilities  that  can  hammer  out  a 
novel  are  quite  sufficient  for  the  production  of  a  senti- 
mental comedy.  It  is  only  sufficient  to  raise  the  char- 
acters a  little ;  to  deck  out  the  hero  with  a  riband,  or  give 
the  heroine  a  title ;  then  to  put  an  insipid  dialogue,  without 
character  or  humour,  into  their  mouths,  give  them  mighty 
good  hearts,  very  fine  clothes,  furnish  a  new  set  of  scenes, 
make  a  pathetic  scene  or  two,  with  a  sprinkling  of  tender 
melancholy  conversation  through  the  whole,  and  there  is 


182     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

doubt  but  all  the  ladies  will  cry,  and  all  the  gentlemen 
applaud."  ^ 

75.  Oliver  Goldsmith.— Oliver  Goldsmith  (1Y28-1774) 
has  left  to  literature  a  legacy  of  singular  charm.  "  Even 
his  failings  leaned  to  virtue's  side ;  "  and  however  much 
hackwork  of  his  earlier  years  he  might  later  have  pre- 
ferred to  forget,  however  much  his  foibles  excited  the 
amusement  or  the  sympathy  of  his  friends,  when  he  passed 
to  the  composition  of  his  serious  efforts  he  worked  with  a 
clear  conception  of  the  requirements  of  art  and  wrote  with 
unfailing  good  taste.  The  Traveller  and  The  Deserted 
Village  show  as  do  few  other  poems  the  narrow  line  be- 
tween sentiment  and  sentimentality,  while  The  Vicar  of 
WaJcefield  is  so  clearly  constructed  that  it  can  easily  be 
made  into  a  five-act  play.  His  first  drama,  The  Good- 
Natured  Man,  was  offered  to  Colman  at  Covent  Garden 
in  1767 ;  but  even  though  apparently  accepted  it  had  an 
exceedingly  hard  time  in  actually  getting  before  the  pub- 
lic.^ Something  of  the  manager's  indifference  communi- 
cated itself  to  the  players,  and  Garrick,  who  as  manager 
at  Drury  Lane  had  recently  become  reconciled  with  Col- 
man, and  who  had  on  hand  a  new  play,  False  Delicacy, 
for  which  he  wished  success,  arrived  at  an  understanding 
with  Colman  by  which  Goldsmith's  play  should  not  be  pro- 
duced until  Kelly's  had  enjoyed  a  preliminary  run.  The 
result  was  that  False  Delicacy  was  produced  January  23, 
1768,  and  The  Good-Natured  Man  not  until  six  nights 
afterwards.  As  Colman  feared  would  be  the  case  with 
an  audience  attuned  to  sentimentality,  special  objection 
was  raised  to  the  bailiff  scene  in  Act  III,  though  the  parts 

'  Quoted  from  Dobson's  edition,  126-30. 
'  See  Dobson's  Introduction,  x-xxi. 


GOLDSMITH  AND  SHERIDAN  183 

of  Croaker  and  Lofty  did  not  fail  to  impress  the  discern- 
ing. Goldsmith  "  was  bitterly  disappointed.  Yet  al' 
though  his  play  ran  but  for  nine  nights,  three  of  these 
brought  him  profits  which  reached  to  £400,  to  which  the 
sale  of  the  book,  with  the  restored  bailiff  scene,  added  some 
£100  more.  Compared  with  the  success  of  False  Delicacy/, 
however,  these  returns  were  inconsiderable." 

Five  years  passed  before  Goldsmith  brought  forth  hia 
second  play.  He  was  doubtless  discouraged  by  the  diffi- 
culties of  actually  getting  a  drama  upon  the  stage;  more- 
over he  realized  that  sentimental  comedy,  while  it  might 
be  despised,  vv^as  a  rival  that  could  not  be  disregarded,  for 
in  the  meantime  Cumberland's  The  West  Indian  (1771) 
had  appeared.  She  Stoops  to  Conquer,  though  still  un- 
named, was  evidently  finished  by  the  end  of  1771.  The 
manuscript  was  in  Colman's  hands  early  in  the  next  year ; 
but  again  ensued  a  long  season  of  harassing  waiting.  At 
length  Goldsmith  wrote  to  Colman  a  moving  appeal,  to 
which  the  manager  replied  "  by  returning  the  manuscript, 
reiterating  his  intention  to  bring  out  the  piece,  but  freely 
decorating  the  ^  copy '  with  vexatious  remarks  and  criti- 
cism.'' Deeply  mortified,  Goldsmith,  with  no  great  hope, 
sent  it  on  as  it  was  to  Garrick.  Johnson,  however,  with 
his  usual  kindness,  now  intervened,  had  the  manuscript 
hastily  withdrawn  from  Garrick's  hands,  and  himself  went 
to  see  Colman,  with  the  result  that  the  play  was  at  last 
produced  March  15,  1773.  Colman  still  was  not  enthusi- 
astic, however;  one  after  another  of  the  actors  had  given 
up  their  j^arts ;  and  further  embarrassment  had  been  caused 
by  the  author's  uncertainty  about  the  title.  The  Belle's 
Stratagem  (a  title  afterwards  used  by  Mrs.  Cowley)  and 
The  Old  House,  A  New  Inn  were  among  the  suggestions, 


184     A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

while  still  a  third  one  was  The  Mistakes  of  a  NighL 
Finally  recalling  a  line  from  Dryden,  "  But  kneels  to  con-- 
quer,  and  yet  stoops  to  rise,"  Goldsmith  decided  on  She 
Stoops  to  Conquer,  with  The  Mistakes  of  a  Night  as  a  sub- 
title. With  such  handicaps  it  was  only  by  dint  of  sheer 
merit  that  the  play  succeeded  on  its  opening  night  and  thus 
began  its  triumphant  progress  through  English  theatrical 
history. 

She  Stoops  to  Conquer  is  one  of  the  landmarks  of  Eng- 
lish comedy.  The  play  was  primarily  based  upon  an  epi-" 
sode  in  the  author's  life,  his  mistaking  of  a  private  house 
for  an  inn  while  still  a  youth  in  his  native  Ireland.  The 
tying  of  Mr.  Hardcastle's  wig  to  a  chair  was  taken  from 
a  trick  that  had  been  played  on  Goldsmith  himself  while 
he  was  writing  the  play.  The  weak  points  in  the  comedy, 
which  on  one  hand  has  similarities  with  Earquhar's  play 
and  on  the  other  with  Mrs.  Cowley's,  the  critics  were  not 
long  in  finding.  The  play  abounds  in  farcial  elements, 
in  improbabilities  and  inconsistencies;  Tony  Lumpkin, 
for  instance,  who  is  so  illiterate  as  not  to  be  able  to  read 
more  than  his  own  name  in  script,  is  clever  enough  to  have 
composed  the  excellent  song  of  "  The  Three  Pigeons."  * 
All  shortcomings,  however,  recede  before  the  abounding 
good  humor  and  high  spirits  of  the  play.  Mr.  Ilardcastle's' 
old-fashioned  courtesy,  Diggory's  unconscious  humor,  and 
Tony  Lumpkin's  little  designs  were  all  warm-hearted  and 
genuine,  and  even  in  the  eighteenth  century  could  relieve 
the  commonplace  qualities  of  other  characters  that  were 
more  conventional. 

76.    Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan. — The  attack  that  Gold- 
*  The  remark  is  to  be  credited  originally  to  Dobson,  Introduction, 


GOLDSMITH  A>TD  SHERIDAN  185 

smith  had  begun  upon  sentimentalism  was  carried  still 
further  by  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan  (1751-1816),  who 
differed,  however,  from  his  contemporary  in  his  emphasis 
on  high  comedy.  Goldsmith  recalled  Farquhar ;  Sheridan 
was  the  heir  of  Congreve.  He  was  the  son  of  brilliant 
parents,  his  father  being  an  actor  and  a  fashionable  teacher 
of  oratory,  while  his  mother,  beautiful  and  charming  m 
manner,  was  accomplished  with  her  pen  and  herself  wrote 
a  play,  The  Discovery.  Under  highly  romantic  circum-- 
stances  he  married  the  attractive  singer  and  belle  of  the 
day,  Elizabeth  Linley,  the  daughter  of  a  fashionable  teacher 
of  music;  and  now  face  to  face  with  the  problem  of  sup- 
porting a  wife  he  turned  to  the  business  of  playwriting. 
^'  Like  Goldsmith,  he  reverted  to  classical  comedy  and 
chose,  as  the  basis  of  his  plot,  the  marriage  conf ict  be- 
tween parent  and  child  which  had  come  down  from  Ter- 
ence through  Italian  and  Erench  theatres.  A  father  and 
an  aunt  arrange  a  suitable  marriage  for  their  respective 
son  and  niece,  while  the  young  people  have  already  chosen? 
for  themselves.  Out  of  this  hackneyed  situation  he  ex- 
tracted the  equally  hackneyed  humors  of  mistaken  identity 
and  of  domestic  discord,  but  with  a  dramatic  sense  which 
borders  on  genius."  ^  The  Rivals  appeared  at  Covent 
Garden  January  17,  1775.  The  play  did  not  succeed  at 
first;  it  was  not  well  performed  and  was  altogether  too 
long.  Revision,  however,  greatly  improved  it  and  then  it 
met  with  the  success  it  deserved.^    The  rivals  are  of  course 

»  Routh:  "  The  Georgian  Drama,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  XI,  294. 

"  It  is  an  open  question,  however,  if  for  acting  purposes  it  was 
not  capable  of  still  further  revision;  see,  for  instance,  account  of 
Joseph  Jefferson's  version  in  Nettleton:  Major  Dramas  of  Richard 
Brinsley  Sheridan,  323-25, 


186     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

one  and  the  same  person,  the  gallant  young  lover  who  has 
introduced  himself  to  the  heroine  as  Ensign  Beverly  in- 
stead of  the  heir  of  Sir  Anthony  Absolute  that  he  really  is. 
Complication  arises  when  the  young  man's  father  appears 
on  the  scene  bent  on  having  him  married  at  once  in  his 
own  person.  Lydia  Languish,  w^ho  has  sentimentally 
looked  forward  to  an  elopement  and  to  the  loss  of  her  for- 
tune with  delight,  is  naturally  disaj)pointed  when  she  finds 
that  she  is  still  to  be  well-to-do  and  conventional.  Sir 
Anthony,  with  his  fits  of  temper,  Mrs.  Malaprop,  with  her 
distinctive  vocabulary,  and  Bob  Acres  with  his  swagger 
might  have  had  prototypes  but  were  nevertheless  irresist- 
ibly effective  in  their  own  persons.  A  society  that  prided 
itseK  on  its  grace  and  sophistication,  and  that  smiled  at 
those  who  fell  short  of  its  ideals,  enjoyed  the  play  and  gave 
it  full  approval. 

Sheridan  naturally  desired  to  follow  up  his  first  suc- 
cess as  quickly  as  possible.  On  May  2  he  sought  to  amuse 
the  public  with  a  short  farce,  St.  Patrick's  Day.  Much 
more  important  than  this,  however,  was  The  Duenna,  a 
comic  opera  on  the  libretto  of  which  Sheridan  had  lav- 
ished some  of  his  best  effort  and  for  which  his  father-in- 
law  had  w^ritten  the  music.  The  work  was  produced  in 
^N'ovember,  and  was  a  tremendous  success,  being  given  no 
less  than  seventy-five  performances  in  its  first  season  and 
surpassing  even  the  famous  run  of  The  Beggar  s  Opera, 
Sheridan,  now  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  was  acclaimed  as 
the  foremost  English  writer  of  comedy  of  the  day. 

"  Garrick,  rendered  uneasy  by  these  successes  at  the 
rival  house  of  Covent  Garden,  revenged  himself  eifectually 
in  1775  by  parting  with  his  half-share  of  the  patent  at 
Drury  Lane  to  a  syndicate,  at  the  head  of  which  was 


GOLDSMITH  AND  SHERIDAN  18T 

Sheridan."  "^  The  post  of  manager  of  London's  most  fa- 
mous theatre  that  the  yoimg  dramatist  now  assumed  was 
one  that  he  was  to  hold  with  varying  success  for  most 
of  the  rest  of  his  life.  An  early  attempt,  however,  to 
remodel  Vanbrugh's  The  Relapse  under  a  new  title  prac- 
tically failed.  Something  was  needed  and  needed  immedi- 
ately to  repair  the  loss  of  Garrick.  Sheridan  rose  to  the 
occasion  with  The  School  for  Scandal  (May  8,  1777),  gen- 
erally considered  his  masterpiece. 

This  play,  like  The  Rivals,  seems  to  have  been  the  result 
of  Sheridan's  acquaintance  with  fashionable  society  at 
Bath.  The  careful  construction  of  the  play  at  once  elicited 
favorable  comment.  Especially  praised  was  the  situation, 
in  the  fourth  act,  where  Sir  Peter  discovers  Lady  Teazle 
in  Joseph  Surface's  study.  The  test  of  time  has  fully 
confirmed  the  praise  thus  bestowed  on  the  "  screen  scene." 
"  It  remains  not  merely  the  most  notable  scene  in  the 
English  comedy  of  manners,  but  one  of  the  masterpieces 
of  English  dramatic  art.  Only  less  noteworthy  are  the 
^  picture  scene '  in  the  house  of  Charles  Surface,  the 
scandal  scenes,  and  the  conversations  between  Sir  Peter 
and  Lady  Teazle.  Though  more  dependent  upon  the  wit  of 
the  dialogue,  they  brilliantly  illustrate  Sheridan's  dra- 
matic skill."  * 

Sheridan's  next  production  was  The  Critic  (October  30, 
1779),  a  burlesque  on  the  general  order  of  The  Rehearsal 
originally  produced  as  an  afterpiece.  In  this  play  with 
his  usual  success  he  not  only  satirized  sentimentalism  and 
such  a  contemporary  character  as  the  sensitive  and  jealous 
Cumberland  (''  Sir  Fretful  Plagiary"),  but  with  a  mas- 
terhand  swept  the  entire  range  of  dramatic  absurdity, 

'  Seccombe,  210.  '  NettletoD,  303. 


188     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

''It  is  the  triumph  of  sheer  wit  over  the  usual  transitori- 
ness  of  burlesque." 

After  these  successes,  when  a  brilliant  career  as  a  dram- 
atist seemed  all  before  him,  Sheridan  suddenly  shifted 
his  chief  interest  to  politics,  becoming  within  the  next 
twenty  years  one  of  the  most  famous  orators  in  Parliament. 
This  participation  in  public  life  naturally  led  to  more  or 
less  neglect  of  Drury  Lane,  which  for  a  while  was  saved 
from  disaster  only  by  the  work  of  a  group  of  unusually  able 
performers.  In  1798  and  1799  Sheridan  temporarily 
saved  the  situation  by  two  adaptations  from  the  German  of 
Kotzebue,  The  Strangers  and  Pizarro,  In  1791,  however, 
the  theatre  had  been  condemned  as  unsafe  and  had  to  be 
reconstructed  at  great  expense ;  in  1809  it  was  totally  de- 
stroyed with  heavy  personal  loss  to  the  manager.  When 
it  was  rebuilt  new  officials  took  charge  and  Sheridan  was 
forced  to  retire.  Other  troubles  had  already  come  to  him 
— domestic,  financial,  political.  He  passed  away  at  sixty- 
five  and  was  buried  with  great  pomp  in  Westminster 
Abbey.  Neither  he  nor  Goldsmith  founded  a  school.  He 
himself  was  but  the  last  and  the  most  brilliant  representa- 
tive of  the  comedy  of  manners  that  had  become  so  popular 
in  the  Restoration  era,  and  that  had  had  such  a  long  tradi- 
tion in  English  dramatic  annals. 

77.  Close  of  the  Century.— The  latter  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  was  hardly  a  period  favorable  to  the  com- 
position of  plays.  Eor  a  longer  time  than  ever  before 
or  since  the  drama  sank  beneath  the  dignity  of  literature. 
Much  of  the  explanation  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
larger  forces  at  work  in  the  life  of  the  English  people. 
The  age  was  primarily  democratic  and  industrial,  and  far 
removed  from  the  nationalistic  ideals  of  Elizabeth.     Not 


GOLDSMITH  AND  SHERIDAN  189 

kings  and  queens,  or  heroes  and  heroines,  but  common 
men  and  women  were  chiefly  of  interest.  Accordingly  the 
country  launched  upon  a  great  era  of  social  and  political 
reform.  Howard  worked  for  the  improvement  of  prisons, 
Wilberforce  and  other  abolitionists  began  their  agitation, 
and  the  decade  1790-1800  witnessed  the  founding  of  nu- 
merous missionary  and  philanthropic  societies.  Some  off- 
set to  these  Whig  tendencies  might  have  been  found  in 
romanticism;  but  this  impulse  had  not  yet  risen  to  its 
height,  nor  had  the  theories  and  ideas  of  liberty  crystal- 
lized into  drama. 

In  such  an  era  of  discussion  and  reform  the  drama  no 
longer  fulfilled  the  function  it  once  performed.  In  the 
age  of  Elizabeth  the  playhouse  monopolized  the  attention 
of  the  world  of  fashion.  Now,  however,  it  had  to  com- 
pete with  the  novel,  the  newspaper,  the  opera,  and  all  the 
other  media  of  enlightenment  and  entertainment.  The 
drama  itself  moreover  had  now  built  up  a  tradition  and  a 
literature  that  kept  many  away  from  the  theatre.  The 
scholar,  hardly  attracted  by  the  current  offerings  of  the 
stage,  turned  to  the  perusal  of  the  older  dramatists  in  the 
study.  In  an  age  of  increasing  criticism,  largely  of 
Shakespeare,  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  (1Y09-1784)  was  easily 
most  eminent.  Years  before  (1749)  he  had  offered  to 
Garrick,  and  Garrick  had  accepted,  a  rather  lifeless  trag- 
edy, Irene,  a  story  of  the  temptation  placed  before  a  Greek 
maiden  by  the  offer  of  a  throne  rejected  by  the  loyal 
Aspasia.  In  spite  of  considerable  effort,  as  a  dramatist 
and  poet  Johnson  did  not  quite  succeed  in  winning  the 
laurels  he  sought ;  he  was  to  win  a  fame  far  more  enduring, 
however,  by  the  critical  efforts  that  very  often  he  thought 
ephemeral. 


190     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Within  the  theatre  itself  moreover  developed  forces  that 
hardly  promoted  the  composition  of  serious  drama.  From 
what  has  been  said  it  is  evident  that  the  stage  was  main- 
tained in  the  latter  part  of  the  century  only  by  the  more 
fashionable  part  of  the  population.  The  play  became  a 
society  function;  Garrick,  Macklin,  Foote,  and  Mrs.  Sid- 
dons  were  discussed  in  the  parlors  of  the  ^'  bluestock- 
ings; "  and  polite  conversation  considered  the  relative 
merits  of  Drury  Lane  and  Covent  Garden.  "Not  was  the 
situation  improved  by  the  sentimentalism  that  in  varying 
forms  was  still  cultivated,  or  by  the  ^'  bullies  "  of  the  day 
who  were  tolerated  and  v^ho  frenueutly  browbeat  the  actors. 
The  chief  force  in  making  the  drama  less  intellectual, 
however,  was  the  emphasis  placed  on  scenery  and  costume, 
the  effect  of  which  was  not  unlike  that  nt  the  present  day. 
"  In  the  days  of  Quin,  the  characters  appeared  in  a  con- 
ventional dress,  incongruous  to  us  because  unfamiliar, 
which  raised  the  actors  above  the  limitations  of  actual 
existence  and  made  them  denizens  of  the  suggestive  stage- 
world.  But  when  Garrick  played  Ifacbeth  in  a  scarlet 
and  gold  military  uniform  and  dressed  Hotspur  in  a  laced 
frock  and  Ramillies  wig,  he  was  introducing  realism, 
which  destroyed  the  universality  of  the  characters ;  so  that, 
after  two  generations  of  the  new  tradition,  neither  Lamb 
nor  Hazlitt  could  endure  to  see  Shakespeare  acted;  and 
Goethe,  at  a  time  when  the  picture  stage  had  firm  hold  of 
Germany,  regarded  Shakespeare  more  as  a  poet  to  be 
read  in  seclusion  than  as  a  dramatist  to  be  appreciated  in 
the  theatre.''  ^ 

Some  names,  however,  of  those  who  wrote  plays  within 
the  period  are  deserving  at  least  of  passing  mention  and 
•  Routh,  C.  E.  E.  L,  XI,  314. 


GOLDSMITH  AND  SHFPTDAN  191 

sometimes  of  further  remark.  Haimah  More  (1745- 
1833),  most  famous  for  her  work  in  education  and  reli- 
gion, as  a  dramatist  was  strongest  in  Percy  (1777)  and 
The  Fatal  Falsehood  (1779).  In  the  first  of  these  plays 
she  availed  herself  of  the  new  taste  for  romanticism;  in 
both,  however,  she  discussed  topics  of  interest  in  her  day. 
Mrs.  Hannah  Cowley  (3743-1809),  a  successful  writer 
of  comedy,  began  her  work  with  a  sentimental  play,  The 
Runaway  (1776),  but  soon  shifted  to  the  comedy  of  humor 
and  episode.  "  In  The  Belle'. ^  f^tratagem  (1780),  Laetitia 
Hardy,  to  be  sure  of  winning  the  affections  of  her  be- 
trothed, first  disgusts  him  by  pretending  to  be  a  hoyden 
and  then,  while  disguised  at  a  masquerade,  conquers  his 
heart  by  her  real  charms."  Stronger  perhaps  than  other 
phywrigbts  of  the  period,  however,  was  General  John 
Burgoyne  (1722-1792),  who  before  going  to  America  pro- 
duced a  classical  comedy  of  the  old  school.  The  Maid  of  the 
OaJcs  (1774),  and  who  on  his  return  again  proceeded  to 
work  in  a  field  in  which  he  had  long  been  interested  and 
wrote  The  Heiress  (1786).  This  play  "won  a  fortune 
and  was  pr,eferred  by  some  critic?  to  The  Sclwol  for  Scan- 
dal. ,  .  .  [It]  has  the  unusual  merit  of  combining  the 
features  of  a  comedy  of  manner-  with  tho?^p  of  a  comedy 
of  pathos."  Thomas  Holcroft  (1745-1809),  who  was  of  the 
circle  of  Godwin  and  Paine,  introduces  something  of  his 
social  theory  in  The  Food  fo  Ruin  (1792)  and  The  De- 
serted Daughter  (.795).  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Inchbald  (1753- 
1821),  who  knew  well  the  life  of  the  theatre,  was  singu- 
larly successful  in  adapting  her  work  to  popular  taste. 
rU  Tell  You  What  (1784)  was  especially  well  constructed ; 
Stirh  Things  Are  (1787)  deftly  makes  use  of  Howard's 
agitation  for  prison  reform;  Wives  as  They  Were  (1797), 


192     A  SHOKT  HISTORY  OF  THE  EI^GLISH  DEAMA 

"  a  study  of  a  pleasure-loving  girl  in  higli  society  whose 
nobler  qualities  are  gradually  developed  by  the  influence  of 
her  father  in  disguise,"  was  afterwards  elaborated  into  the 
strong  novel,  A  Simple  Story;  and  Every  one  Has  Ms 
Fault  (1793)  is  a  domestic  play  of  ill-sorted  marriage. 
George  Colman,  the  younger  (1762-1836),  has  an  inter- 
esting place  in  the  history  of  the  English  drama.  '"  Toward 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  rage  for  dumb  show 
and  musical  additions  invaded  the  regular  drama.  Even 
Kotzebue  ^^  had  to  be  decked  out  with  songs  and  choruses. 
.  .  .  This  species  seems  to  have  been  mainly  due  to  the 
ingenuity  of  George  Colman.  Those  of  his  plays  verging 
on  tragedy,  of  wLich  ihe  Battle  of  Hexham  (1789),  The 
Surrender  of  Calais  (1791),  llie  Mountaineers  (1793), 
and  The  Iron  Chest  (1796)  are  the  chief,  are  lively  med- 
leys of  tragedy,  comedy,  opera,  and  farce.  ...  In  his 
use  of  all  the  well-worn  motives  of  serious  drama  and  his 
constant  imitation  of  Shakespearean  and  Elizabethan  dic- 
tion, Colman  displays  remarkable  as  well  as  the  most  cheer- 
ful effrontery.  .  .  .  He  popularized,  vulgarized,  and 
musicalized  the  great  traditions  of  English  tragedy,  and 
passed  them  along  to  the  nineteenth  century  as  the  pos- 
session of  the  illegitimate  drama."  ^^ 

*"  See  next  section,  78.  "  Thorndike :  Tragedy,  333-34. 


CHAPTEE  XI 

EAELY  OTNETEE^^TH  CE:N^TUEY  DRAMA: 
EOMANTICISM 

78.  Era  of  Romanticism. — Important  as  furnishing 
a  background  for  the  drama  are  the  theatrical  condi- 
tions that  obtained  in  London  in  the  earlier  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  We  have  seen  that  in  the  last  period 
the  theatres  were  primarily  frequented  by  a  special  group 
in  society,  though  as  time  went  on  one  heard  more  and 
more  about  "  illegitimate  ''  playhouses.  The  fact  is  that  the 
theatres  were  still  oflScially  under  the  control  of  the  court ; 
and  the  Lord  Chamberlain  recognized  only  the  two 
"  patent  '^  theatres,  Drury  Lane  and  Covent  Garden,  and 
the  one  in  the  Haymarket.  When  near  the  turn  of  the 
century  the  people  in  greater  numbers  began  to  attend  the 
playhouses,  these  three  theatres  proved  to  be  altogether  in- 
adequate for  the  demands  of  a  city  as  large  as  London, 
though  the  first  two  were  enlarged  until  they  were  really 
enormous  in  size.  Accordingly,  in  defiance  of  the  law, 
there  arose  various  other  theatres  which  were  not  supposed 
to  encroach  on  the  field  of  the  legitimate  drama,  but  with 
emphasis  on  music  and  dancing  and  other  features  to  cor- 
respond rather  to  the  modern  "  variety  "  or  vaudeville 
houses.  In  spite  of  all  the  uncertainty  as  to  their  exist- 
ence, however,  these  theatres  with  increasing  assurance 
offered  to  their  patrons  the  regular  drama  until  in  1843 
they  were  formally  legalized. 

With  the  entrance  of  the  people  at  large  into  the  theatres 

193 


194     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

there  developed  an  emphasis  on  sensational  incident  which 
the  impulse  of  romanticism,  now  at  its  height,  was  only  too 
willing  to  satisfy.  A  new  species  of  play,  melodrama 
(from  the  F^e'n^h  r-r/lo^rnrn'^) ,  came  into  eyif^+pnce.  "  The 
peculiar  novelties  of  the  inelodranoe  were  the  supplement- 
ing of  the  dialogue  by  a  large  amount  of  dumb-show  and 
the  accompaniment  of  both  dialogue  and  dumb-show  by 
descriptive  orchestral  music;  otherwise,  with  its  songs, 
sensations,  and  mechanical  devices,  it  resembled  the  pre- 
ceding musical  drama  of  Colman  and  others.  .  .  .  The 
term  ifielodranva  ceased  aftei  a  time  to  denote  the  peculiar 
species  brought  from  France  in  1802,  and  came  to  be  ap- 
plied to  all  plays  flependir  g  for  eff'i^ct  on  situation,  sensa- 
tion, or  machinery,  rather  than  ojjaracterization.''  ^  The 
origin ^  of  romanticise n  itself  of  courp-?  go  back  to  the 
preceding  century,  and  for  the  present  purpose  impoi*- 
tance  attaches  especially  to  the  "  Gothic  ■ '  romance  of 
Horace  Walpole  and  Mrs.  Eadcliffe.  "  Walpole  himself 
wrote  an  unacted  play.  The  Myderions  Moihtr,  in  1768, 
which  is  not  an  unworthy  companion  of  The  Casile  of 
Otranto,  itself  adapted  for  the  stage  and  acted  in  1781,  as 
Tl"  Count  of  Narhonne,  Other  ^Gothic  tragedies'  are 
liODert  J'ephson\^  Braganza,  1775,  which  boasts  itself,  in 
the  prologue,  as  '  warm  from  Shakespeare's  school,'  his 
Julia,  1787,  a  very  popular  play,  the  scene  of  which  is 
Elizabethan  England,  and  Cuiriberland'f?  Caniielite,  1784 ; 
and  all  preceded  the  German  romantic  influence."  ^  All 
other  single  influences,  however,  were  secondary  to  that  of 
the  German  Kotzebue,  who  about  the  years  1797-1801  had 
a  vogue  such  as  perhaps  has  never  been  equaled  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  English  theatre.  This  dramatist  attacked  the 
»  Thorndike,  334-36.  '  Schelling:  English  Drama,  312. 


EAELY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAMA     195 

Englisli  stage  at  its  weak  point,  sentimentality,  and  more 
than  a  score  of  his  productions  were  rapidly  translated. 
Even  Sheridan,  as  we  have  seen,  yielded  to  the  demand 
of  the  moment,  and  within  twelve  years  Pizarro  passed 
through  twenty-nine  editions.  "  The  phenomenal  fortune 
of  Kotzebue  in  England  has  been  attributed  to  several 
causes.  In  the  first  place  he  is  a  consummate  master  of 
stagecraft  and  often  as  witty  as  he  is  clever.  Secondly,  he 
appealed  strongly  to  the  prevailing  love  of  the  sentimental 
from  which  English  drama  seems  never  to  have  been  able 
to  shake  itself  free ;  and  this  appeal  is  given  a  wider  social 
and  political  character  which  fell  in  thoroughly  with  the 
democratic  and  humanitarian  temper  of  the  moment."  ' 
For  at  least  one  season,  that  of  1797-98,  The  CoMlc  Spectre 
of  M.  G.  Lewis,  with  its  emphasis  on  terror  and  mediaeval- 
ism,  was  a  serious  rival  of  the  works  of  Kotzebue;  but 
the  underlying  appeal  was  of  course  largely  the  same. 

This  was  the  period  of  Scott,  whose  poetry  was  for  a 
number  of  years  singularly  successful  in  satisfying  the 
taste  of  the  public;  and  one  has  only  to  recall  the  great 
critics  of  the  day  to  know  that  at  the  time  there  was  much 
genuine  appreciation  of  the  ^^st  that  was  to  be  found  in 
the  national  literature.  Lamb  issued  his  Specimens  of 
English  Dramatic  Poets  (1808),  Gifford  brought  out  a  new 
edition  of  Jonson  in  nine  volumes  (1816),  Toleridge  wrote 
Biographia  Literana  (1817),  and  JTazlitt  produced  such 
works  as  Characters  of  Shale espeare's  Plays  (1817)  and 
Lectures  on  the  Dramatic  Literature  of  the  Age  of  Eliza- 
beth (1820).  In  a  period  of  uncertainty  in  the  crc.  <^ive 
drama  moreover,  some  actors  of  the  highest  order  of  merit 
appeared.     Easily  foremost  were  Sarah  Siddons    (1755- 

•  Schelling,  313. 


196     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

1831)  and  Edmund  Kean  (1787-1833) ;  and  the  efforts 
of  sucE  performers  as  these  in  behalf  of  the  poetic  drama, 
as  well  as  of  William  Macready  (1793-1873)  at  a  some- 
what later  period,  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 

The  word  of  three  representative  men,  taken  together, 
may  best  give  an  impression  of  enlightened  opinion  of  the 
drama  in  the  period.  Said  Jeffrey :  '^  Of  the  old  English 
dramatists,  then,  including  under  this  name  (besides 
Shakespeare)  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  Massinger,  Jonson, 
Ford,  Shirley,  Webster,  Dekker,  Field,  and  Kowley,  it  may 
be  said,  in  general,  that  they  are  more  poetical,  and  more 
original  in  their  diction,  than  the  dramatists  of  any  other 
age  or  country.  Their  scenes  abound  more  in  varied 
images,  and  gratuitous  excursions  of  fancy.  Their  illus- 
trations, and  figures  of  speech,  are  more  borrowed  from 
rural  life,  and  from  the  simple  occupations  or  universal 
feelings  of  mankind.  They  are  not  confined  to  a  certain 
range  of  dignified  expressions,  nor  restricted  to  a  particular 
assortment  of  imagery,  beyond  which  it  is  not  lawful  to 
look  for  embellishments."  *  Hazlitt,  however,  with  his 
usual  frankness  showed  that  intelligent  appreciation  on  the 
part  of  the  public  had  yet  a  long  way  to  go.  Said  he: 
"  It  is  the  present  fashion  to  speak  with  veneration  of  old 
English  literature;  but  the  homage  we  pay  to  it  is  more 
akin  to  the  rites  of  superstition  than  the  worship  of  true 
religion.  Our  faith  is  doubtful ;  our  love  cold ;  and  knowl- 
edge little  or  none.  We  now  and  then  repeat  the  names 
of  some  of  the  old  writers  by  rote,  but  we  are  shy  of  look- 
ing into  their  works."  ^    Something  of  a  still  more  aristo- 

*  Review  of  Weber's  "  The  Dramatic  Works  of  Ford,"  Edinburghi 
Review,  August,  1811. 

*  Lecture  I  in  Dramatic  Literature  of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth, 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRMIA    197 

cratic  point  of  view,  and  one  that  had  much  to  justify  it, 
was  expressed  by  Byron.^  This  brilliant  poet,  as  a  young 
satirist,  showed  no  sympathy  with  the  performances  of 
Master  Betty,  "  the  infant  Eoscius,''  was  repelled  by  the 
extravagances  of  romanticism,  and  in  a  noteworthy  pas- 
sage in  English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers  (11.  560- 
607)  plead  for  a  truer  national  drama: 

Now  to  the  Drama  turn — Oh !  motley  sight ! 
What  precious  scenes  the  wondering  eyes  invite ! 
Puns,  and  a  prince  within  a  barrel  pent, 
And  Dibdin's  nonsense  yield  complete  content. 
Though  now,  thank  Heaven!  the  Rosciomania's  o*er. 
And  full-grown  actors  are  endured  once  more; 
Yet  what  avail  their  vain  attempts  to  please. 
While  British  critics  suffer  scenes  like  these,   .    .    . 
Who  but  must  mourn,  while  these  are  all  the  rage, 
The  degradation  of  our  vaunted  stage! 
Heavens !  is  all  sense  of  shame  and  talent  gone  ? 
Have  we  no  living  bard  of  merit  ? — None ! 
Awake,  George  Colman !  Cumberland,  awake ! 
Ring  the  alarum  bell !  let  folly  quake ! 
Oh,  Sheridan !  if  aught  can  move  thy  pen. 
Let  Comedy  assume  her  throne  again ; 
Abjure  the  mummery  of  the  German  schools; 
Leave  new  Pizarros  to  translating  fools ; 
Give,  as  thy  last  memorial  to  the  age, 
One  classic  drama,  and  reform  the  stage. 

79.  "  Closet  Drama." — In  spite  then  of  the  very  genu- 
ine interest  of  such  men  as  Lamb  and  Hazlitt  in  the  stand- 
ard English  drama,  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  art  of  play- 
writing  was  at  rather  a  low  ebb  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
century.  The  licensing  act  of  1737  had  not  encouraged 
production;   moreover  under  the  influence   not   only   of 

«  See  in  general  Chew:  The  Relation  of  Lord  Byron  to  Drama  of 
the  Romantic  Period, 


198     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Jeremy  Collier  but  also  of  tlie  Wesleyan  revival  a  very 
sober  and  responsible  element  of  tbe  nation  bad  drawn 
away  from  tbe  stage.  Many  of  tbese  very  men,  bowever, 
witb  sometbing  of  tbe  spirit  of  well-poised  and  cultured 
Puritans,  gi-eatly  deligbted  in  tbe  reading  of  tbe  old  mas- 
ters. Some  writers  moreover,  in  tbe  desire  to  ruacb  a  more 
tbougbtful  public,  deliberately  wrote  dramas  witb  no 
tbougbt  of  ever  seeing  tbem  actually  produ  ed  on  tbe  stage. 
Tbus  arose  tbe  '^  closet  drama." 

To  cbis  class  of  plays  belongs  most  of  tbe  dramatic  work 
of  tbe  great  poets  of  tbe  era,  tbougb  occasionally  ^^-f  course 
a  production  witnessed  actual  performance.  Scott  wrote 
The  House  of  Aspen,  wbicb  was  actually  put  in  rebearsal, 
and  The  Doom  of  Devorgoil,  wbicb  was  intended  as  a  melo- 
drama; but  wj  one  of  bis  otber  plays — Halidon  Ilill, 
2Iacck/'^'s  Cross,  and  Aucliindrane — was  intended  for  cbe 
stage.  Also  under  tbe  German  influence  (of  Scbiller 
ratber  tban  Kotzebue,  bowever)  Word.^wortb  wrote  The 
Borderers  and  Coleridge  Osorio.  Tbe  brst  of  tbese  plays 
— tbe  reflection  of  a  mood  of  pessimism  and  tbe  story  of 
tbe  subjection  of  tbe  magnanimous  Marmaduke  to  tbe 
villainous  Oswald — was  offered  and  refused  at  Covent  Gar- 
den in  1798;  tbougb  Coleridge's  play,  refused  at  Drury 
Lane  in  tbis  same  year,  later  saw  production  under  tbe 
name  of  Rertwrse  (1813),  and  was  sufilciently  successful  to 
lead  to  a  temporary  revival  of  tbe  poetic  drp.-ia.  Soutbry 
and  Colerid.ero  togetber  wrote  The  FaU  of  JRohesnierre 
(1794),  and  in  tbe  same  year  Southey  wrote  Wat  Tyler, 
tbougb  tbis  did  not  appear  until  1817.  Influenced  by  bis 
reading  in  tbe  Elizabetbans,  Lamb  wrote  a  tragedy,  John 
Woodvil,  wbicb  was  offered  to  Cbarles  Kemble  in  1799 
and   publisbed   in   1802.     Landor   wrote   Cmnt  Julian 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAIVIA     199 

(1812),  and  Keats  in  1819  designed  for  Kean  Otho  the 
Great  J  a  play  to  which  he  attar^hed  great  hopes  but  which 
never  saw  performance.  Shelley,  inspired  by  Guidons  por- 
trait of  Beatrice  Cenci  in  the  Colonna  palace,  and  hav- 
ing in  mind  Eliza  O'Neill,  the  great  tragic  actress  at 
Covent  Garden,  wrote  The  Cenci  (1820).  The  play  has 
as  its  central  theme  Shelley^s  favorite  one  of  resistance 
to  tyranny,  and  in  its  conception  of  the  heroine  has  marks 
of  undoubted  power;  dealing  with  a  current  and  well- 
known  story  of  parricide,  however,  it  was  not  unnaturally 
refused  by  the  manager.  Byron  expresseu  his  powerful 
personality  in  Manfred  (1817)  and  Cain  (1821),  and  if 
along  with  these  dramatic  poems  we  take  Sardama/pdlus — 
the  story  of  a  dissolute  but  aspiring  hero  and  his  '*  better 
angel "  Myrrha — ^we  shall  have  the  poet's  characteristic 
productions.  It  was  the  irony  of  fate,  however,  that  he 
should  be  most  successful  in  the  type  of  drama  at  which  he 
sneered.  Werner  (1822),  a  play  built  on  one  of  Harriet 
Lee's  novels,  was  an  experiment  in  the  drama  of  horror; 
produced  in  1830  it  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful plays  of  the  period.  Two  Venetian  plays.  Marine) 
Faliero  and  The  Two  Foscari,  were  professedly  modeled 
on  Alfieri  but  were  actually  reminiscent  of  Otway. 
2Iarmo  Faliero,  over  Byron's  protest,  was  presented  for 
six  nights  in  1821  at  Drury  Lane,  but  failed,  as  the  author 
predicted  it  would.  Manfred  remains  the  representative 
production  of  a  poet  who  was  subjective  and  lyric  rather 
than  dramatic  in  his  genius. 

The  effort  of  these  great  poets  in  the  field  of  the  drama 
was  but  representative  of  the  striving  of  the  period.  Per- 
haps the  greatest  example  of  diligence  at  the  tim€  was 
Joanna  Baillie,  who  in  1798  began  the  publication  of  her 


200     A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

Plays  of  the  Passions,  £er  ultimate  purpose  being  to  illus- 
trate each  one  of  the  dominant  human  passions  by  a 
tragedy  and  a  comedy.  She  kept  at  her  task  until  1812 
and  produced  altogether  twenty-eight  pieces.  In  a  preface 
to  her  first  group  of  plays  she  set  forth  her  theory  of  the 
drama,  intending  to  trace  a  single  passion  from  its  begin- 
ning to  the  final  ruin,  with  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
passion  arises  from  within,  without  the  necessary  aid  of 
any  external  stimulus.  "  This  absorption  with  a  study  of 
emotion  per  se  led  to  a  subordination  of  plot  and  all  exter- 
nal incident,  and — so  she  proposed — all  poetic  embellish- 
ment, to  a  searching  study  of  isolated  passion.  Her  first 
volume  attracted  attention,  and  Kemble  and  Mrs.  Siddons 
played  De  Mont  fort,  but  without  success."  ^ 

80.  Late  Georgian  Dramatists. — In  the  London  Maga- 
zine for  April,  1820,  Hazlitt  proved  "  very  satisfactorily 
and  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  no  modem  author 
could  write  a  tragedy."  ^  The  age,  he  thought,  was  ^^  criti- 
cal, didactic,  paradoxical,  romantic,"  but  not  dramatic. 
Hardly  since  Home's  Douglas,  he  declared,  had  a  good 
tragedy  been  written.  Nevertheless,  if  there  was  no  good 
new  English  tragedy,  it  was  not  ]>ecause  there  was  not 
suflScient  effort  to  disprove  what  Hazlitt  had  said.  A  few 
of  the  more  prominent  authors  of  the  period  are  mentioned 
herewith.  In  the  general  connection  hardly  too  much  em- 
phasis can  be  placed  upon  the  j\'ork  of  MacreaJy,  who 
again  and  again  proved  himselt  a  great  sponsor  for  the 
poetic   drama.      Among   other   things   this   distinguished 

'  Thorndike,  340. 

^  For  the  reference  we  are  indebted  to  H.  Child:  "Nineteenth 
Century  Drama,"  C.  H.  E.  L.,  XIII.  To  the  same  article  the  chapter 
is  largely  indebted  for  the  discussion  of  Sheil,  as  well  as  some  other 
things. 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAMA    203j 

actor  has  to  his  credit  the  fact  that  he  was  the  first  to  give 
recognition  to  the  dramatic  work  of  Knowles,  Bulwer- 
Lytton,  and  Browning. 

The  work  of  Charles  Wells  and  Thomas  Lovell  Beddoes 
at  the  beginning  of  the  decade  of  the  reign  of  George  IV 
(1820-1830)  belongs  primarily  to  the  field  of  the  ''  closet 
drama."  Wells  is  remembered  for  Joseph  and  his 
Brethren  (1823),  which  passed  practically  unnoticed 
at  the  time  of  its  first  appearance,  but  which  was  greatly 
praised  by  Kossetti  and  Swinburne  for  its  poetic  beauty 
fifty  years  later,  and  revised.  Beddoes,  distinguished  for 
his  imagination  and  his  wealth  of  imagery,  was  influenced 
by  the  Elizabethans,  especially  Marlowe  and  Webster,  and 
also  by  the  Germans  and  by  Shelley  and  Keats.  The 
Bride's  Tragedy,  published  in  182/2  when  the  author  was 
still  a  student  at  Oxford,  is  a  work  of  unusual  fascination 
and  power.  Death's  Jest-Booh  was  printed  long  after- 
wards (1851)  and  again  exhibited  Beddoes's  peculiar 
quality. 

Richard  Lalor  Shell  (1791-1851),  probably  more  fa- 
mous for  his  work  in  the  public  life  of  the  nation  than  as 
a  dramatist,  first  produced  Adelaide,  or  The  Emigrants,  sl 
story  of  the  French  Revolution,  which  was  played  in  Dub- 
lin in  1814  and  for  one  night  only  in  Covent  Garden,  being 
severely  attacked  by  Hazlitt  because  of  its  French  royalist 
leanings.  A  second  tragedy,  The  Apostate  (Covent  Gar- 
den, 1817),  was  somewhat  more  successful,  but  also  re- 
ceived Hazlitt's  disapproval  because  of  the  too  great 
violence  and  horror  of  its  situations.  Bellamira,  or  The 
Fall  of  Tunis  (Covent  Garden,  1818)  is  the  author's  best 
play,  but  again  the  success  was  primarily  theatrical  rather 
than   truly    dramatic.     Somewhat    more    artistic — natu- 


202     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  EjS^GLISH  DRAMA 

rally,  one  might  say,  as  it  was  built  on  Shirley's  The 
Traitor — was  Evadne,  or  The  Statue  (1819).  Montoni 
(1820)  was  extravagant  in  incident  though  it  contained 
some  good  verse;  and  The  Huguenot  (written  1819,  but 
produced  two  or  three  years  later)  exhibited  some  of 
SheiPs  characteristic  extravagances,  and  was  a  practical 
failure.  A  revision  of  John  Banim's  Damon  and  Pythias, 
however,  was  much  more  successful  than  any  of  his  own 
plays. 

Charles  Roben  Maturin  (1782-1824),  an  Irish  clergy- 
man, in  1816  and  1817  produced  three  tragedies — Ber- 
irarru,  or  The  Castle  of  St.  Aldohrond,  Manuel,  and  Fredolfo 
— all  in  the  highest  vein  of  ^"  Gothicism  ''  and  the  German 
drama  of  Kotzebue.  Maturin  had  considerable  sensitive- 
ness to  beauty  and  genuine  poetic  quality,  and  his  Bertram 
was  especially  successful.  Hazlitt,  however,  the  mentor  of 
the  drama  at  the  time,  said  of  this  play  as  of  others, 
"  There  is  no  action ;  there  is  neither  cause  nor  effect.  .  .  . 
The  passion  described  does  not  arise  naturally  out  of  the 
previous  circumstances,  nor  lead  necessarily  to  the  con- 
sequences that  follow ;  "  and  time  has  justified  his  opinion. 

Somewhat  surer  in  touch  was  Henry  Hart  Milman 
(1791-1868),  afterwards  dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  distin- 
guished as  scholar  and  historian,  who  sought  inspiration 
in  the  Elizabethan  tradition  rather  than  in  a  more  extrava- 
gant romanticism.  His  plays  include  Fazio  (published 
1815,  produced  1818),  whose  superb  acting  qualities  kept 
it  on  the  stage  for  three  decades,  The  Fall  of  Jerusaleia 
(1820),  The  Martyr  of  Anfioch  (1822),  Belshazzar 
(1822),  noteworthy  for  its  good  lyrics,  and  Anne  Boleyn 
(1826),  unfortunately  marred  by  an  extreme  desire  to 
make  out  a  case  for  Protestantism  against  Eoman  Catholi- 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAMA     203 

cism.  Milman  wrote  with  intelligence  and  good  taste, 
and  fully  deserved  the  measure  of  success  he  received. 

Marv  Eussell  Mitford  (1787-1855),  also  well  known  as 
a  novelist,  had  a  great  desire  to  excel  in  the  field  of  the 
poetic  drama,  and  after  two  or  three  earlier  efforts  pro- 
duced at  least  one  highly  successful  play  Ri-enzi  (1828). 
This  contained  a  passage,  Eienzi's  address  to  the  Romans, 
which  became  a  famous  selection  for  declamation  through- 
out the  century.  An  interesting  sidelight  on  the  English 
stage  within  the  period  is  thrown  by  the  career  of  the 
American,  John  Howard  Payne,  in  some  of  whose  work  at 
least  Kean  performed.^ 

8i.  James  Sheridan  Knowles. — Stronger  on  the  whole 
than  the  dramatists  just  mentioned  was  James  Sheridan 

•See  Quinn:  "The  Early  Drama,  1756-1860,"  in  Camlridge  His- 
tory of  American  Literature,  Vol.  I.  This  is  the  most  authoritative 
discussion  of  the  subject  that  has  yet  appeared.  Dr.  Quinn,  who  is 
Dean  of  the  College  and  Professor  of  English  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  has  further  popularized  the  study  of  the  drama  in 
America  by  his  collection  of  twenty-five  plays  for  college  use,  Repre- 
sentative American  Plays  (The  Century  Co.,  New  York,  1917).  Of 
this  and  related  works  note  review,  "The  American  Drama:  A 
Survey,"  by  Archibald  Henderson,  Sewanee  Review,  April,  1918. 
Note  also  important  three-volume  collection  for  library  service, 
Moses:  Representative  Plays  hy  American  Dramatists  (E.  P. 
Dutton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1018).  In  the  early  period  importance 
attaches  to  the  work  of  William  Duulap  (1766-1839),  who  wrote  or 
adapted  not  less  than  fifty  plays  and  in  1833  published  an  authorita- 
tive two-volume  History  of  the  American  Theatre.  Edwin  Forrest 
(1806-72),  contemporary  with  Macready,  greatly  encouraged  native 
American  effort  and  touched  the  life  of  the  English  stage  in  more 
ways  than  one.  The  American  drama  of  the  last  sixty  years,  includ- 
ing the  work  of  such  men  as  Bronson  Howard,  Denman  Thompson, 
James  A.  Heme,  David  Belasco,  Clyde  Fitch,  Augustus  Thomas, 
Charles  Klein,  William  Gillette,  William  Vaughn  Moody,  Percy 
Mackaye,  and  Edward  Sheldon,  is  of  course  a  study  in  itself. 


204:     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

Knowles  (1784-1862),  a  descendant  of  Sheridan  on  his 
mother's  side.  This  playwright  in  the  main  sought  to 
purge  the  iDoetio  drama  of  the  extravagances  of  German 
romanticifrn,  and  in  this  he  succeeded.  He  was  not  well 
paid  for  his  work,  however,  and  accordingly  he  not  only 
tried  several  professions  and  occupations  hut  also  gave  at- 
tention to  tragedy,  romantic  comedy,  domestic  plays,  melo- 
drama, and  any  other  kind  of  work  that  for  the  moment 
would  seem  to  succeed.  Prominent  among  his  sixteen 
plays  were  the  tragedies,  Yirninms  (1820),  Cavf^'i  Grac- 
chus (produced  1823,  thuugh  written  earlier),  and 
William  Tell  (1825).  The  first  two  of  these  plays  are 
famous  for  their  declamation,  and  into  them — prohahly 
under  the  influence  of  the  era  of  social  reform  in  which  he 
lived— Knowles  introduced  a  new  consciousness  of  class 
distinction.  In  William  Tell  one  can  see  still  more  the 
w^ork  of  social  revolution.  In  such  plays  as  these  Knowles 
did  away  with  the  high-sounding  words  of  the  old  romanti- 
cism, used  simpler  diction,  and  in  general  let  his  situa- 
tions arise  out  of  his  subject  and  characters.  This  he  did 
at  the  same  time  that  his  imagination  and  versification 
were  commonplace,  and  his  work  even  frequently  careless ; 
and  assisted  hy  the  acting  of  Helen  Faucit  and  Macready, 
he  almost  restored  the  poetic  drama  to  its  old  dignity. 
For  the  moment,  however,  his  comedies  were  even  more 
successful  than  his  tragedies.  Special  popularity  attached 
to  a  rather  heavy  play.  The  HunrhhacJc  (1832),  but  The 
Beggars  Daughter  of  Bethnal  (Jreen,  The  Love  Chase, 
and  Old  Maids  were  also  well  received. 

82.  Edwaid  Bulwer-Lytton. — In  the  very  early  years 
of  the  Victorian  era  Knowles  was  surpassed  in  popularity 
only  by  Edward  Bulwer-Lytton  (1803-1873),  one  of  the 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAMA     205 

most  remarkable  figures  in  the  political,  social,  and  literary 
life  of  England  in  the  nineteenth  century.  His  versatility 
and  industry  were  amazing.  He  tried  many  things  and 
narrowly  missed  greatness  in  all  of  them.  An  aristocrat 
and  a  man  of  fashion,  he  made  in  Parliament  a  more  than 
respectable  showing;  one  who  veered  with  the  wind  in 
fiction,  he  wrote  in  The  Last  Bays  of  Pompeii  one  of  the 
best  historical  novels  in  the  national  literature;  an  ama- 
teur and  a  dilettante  in  the  drama,  he  yet  wrote  the  most 
popular  romantic  play  of  the  century.  He  was,  however, 
unfortunately  rooted  in  emotionalism  and  rhetoric;  he 
seldom  went  below  the  surface  of  his  art;  and  the  air  of 
ostentation  and  superiority  that  he  assumed  not  only  irri- 
tated his  contemporaries  but  have  also  invited  undue  be- 
littlement  at  the  hands  of  later  critics. 

Aside  from  his  two  most  famous  productions  the  list  of 
Bulwer-Lytton's  plays  includes  the  titles.  The  Duchess 
de  la  Valli^re  (1837),  Not  so  Bad  as  lue  Seem  (1851), 
Honey  (1840),  The  Rightful  Heir  (1868),  Walpole,  and 
the  unfinished  Barnley,  His  reputation  rests,  however,  on 
The  Lady  of  Lyons  (1838)  and  Richelieu,  or  The  Con- 
spiracy (1839).  The  first  of  these  two  plays  has  been 
criticized  again  and  again  for  its  tawdry  imagery,  its  false 
taste,  and  its  sentimentality ;  but  it  was  full  of  life  and  in 
Claude  Melnotte  and  Pauline  Deschappelles  furnished 
Macready  and  Helen  Faucit  with  excellent  acting  parts. 
Similarly  Richelieu^  while  possessing  little  historical  faith- 
fulness, exhibited  much  clever  artistry  and  has  furnished 
to  many  great  actors  a  medium  for  their  art.  Verily  to 
Bulwer-Lytton  must  be  accorded  the  tribute  of  actual 
success. 

83.   Robert  Browning. — What  Bulwer-Lytton  lacked — 


206     A  SHORT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

characterization,  an  earnest  searching  of  human  motive, 
and  a  perception  of  deeper  dramatic  values — ^waa  pos- 
sessed bv  the  great  poet,  Eobert  Browning  (1812-1889), 
who  in  turn  lacked  the  very  things  that  made  Bulwer- 
Lytton  successful — intrigue,  stagecraft,  and  the  secret  of 
immediate  appeal  to  an  audience.  His  first  play,  Straf- 
ford, written  at  the  request  of  Macready,  was  produced 
at  Covent  Garden  May  1,  1837,  and  won  a  fair  measure  of 
success.  The  powerful  dramatic  poem,  Pippa  Passes 
(published  as  ISTo.  I  of  Bells  and  Pomegranates,  1841), 
contains  sufficient  material  not  only  for  one  but  for  four 
plays,  and  in  the  searching  scene  between  Ottima  and 
Sebald  leaves  no  doubt  of  Browning's  power  when  he  is 
working  clearly.  King  Victor  and  King  CJuirles  (!N'o.  II 
of  Bells  and  Pomegranates,  1842)  and  The  Return  of  the 
Druses  (No.  IV  in  series,  1843)  were  both  considered  by 
Macready  unavailable  for  stage  production ;  but  A  Blot 
in  the  'Scutcheon  (No.  V  in  series,  1843)  was  written  at 
the  request  of  the  actor-manager,  with  whom  unfortu- 
nately it  led  to  a  misunderstanding.  This  remarkable 
production  excels  others  of  Browning's  plays  in  the  tense- 
ness of  its  situations,  its  rapid  action,  and  its  brisk  dia- 
logue. The  central  theme — that  of  the  problem  before  an 
older  brother  whose  young  sister  has  sinned  is  firmly  kept 
in  mind  by  the  dramatist,  who  here  along  with  his  knowl- 
edge of  human  motive  and  play  of  passion  shows  a  stage- 
craft beyond  his  wont.  At  the  same  time  the  play  is  built 
upon  one  or  two  highly  questionable  situations,  so  that 
fundamentally  "  it  violates  the  tact  both  of  the  theatre  and 
of  life."  "^^  While  it  was  given  with  some  measure  of  suc- 
cess for  a  few  nights,  one  critic  considered  it  a  "most 
"Dickinson:  The  Contemporary  Drama  of  England,  23-24. 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAMA     207 

faulty  play  "  and  another  as  a  "  puzzling  and  unpleasant 
business."  Next  followed  Colombe's  Birthday  (No.  VI 
in  Bells  and  Pomegranates,  1844 j,  which  also  gave  rise  to 
some  misunderstandings,  this  time  with  Charles  Kean, 
Macready's  real  successor  on  the  stage,  so  that  it  did  not  see 
production  until  it  was  brought  out  by  Phelps  at  the 
Sadler's  Wells  Theatre  in  Islington  in  1853.  This  play 
is  in  many  ways  one  of  Browning's  greatest  achievements 
and  has  an  especially  strong  hero,  Valence;  at  the  same 
time  it  was  not  a  stage  success.  A  Soul'^  Trarjedy  (form- 
ing with  Luria  No.  VIII  of  Bells  and  Pomegranates, 
1846)  is  simply  a  psychological  study  in  two  acts,  and 
Luria  seems  to  have  been  written  with  no  thought  at  all 
of  stage  production.  Thus  one  of  the  most  truly  dramatic 
poets  that  England  ever  had,  witnessed  only  a  slight  meas- 
ure of  success  in  the  acted  drama,  so  that  his  real  achieve- 
ment has  given  rise  to  endless  discussion  and  comment. 

84.  Alfred  Tennyson. — Less  dramatic  than  Browning, 
but  by  the  irony  of  fate  more  successful,  was  the  laureate, 
Tennyson  (1809-1892),  who  with  others  of  the  period 
marks  the  passing  of  the  rom  antic  tradition.  Tennyson  was 
essentially  a  lyric  poet ;  nevertheless  he  was  intensely  inter- 
ested in  English  history,  occasionally  (as  in  ^'  Rizpah  ") 
he  exhibited  dramatic  force  in  his  poems,  and,  aided  by 
the  art  of  Irving  and  Terry,  at  least  one  of  his  ambitious 
productions  was  a  noteworthy  Success.  Altogether  he 
wrote  seven  plays.  Queen  Mary  (printed  1875)  was  pro- 
duced by  Irving  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre  in  1876.  Harold 
(published  1876,  dated  1877)  did  not  appear  on  the  stage. 
Becket  (formally  published  1884)  was  refused  in  1879 
by  Irving,  who  in  1891,  however,  asked  leave  to  produce 
the  play  and  used  it  with  g^eat  success.     The  Falcon,  in 


208     A  SHORT  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

only  one  act,  was  produced  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kendal  at 
tlie  St.  James  Theatre  in  December,  1879,  and  had  a  run  of 
sixty-seven  nights.  The  Cup,  in  two  acts,  was  produced 
by  Irving  in  January,  1881,  and  ran  for  a  hundred  and 
thirty  nights.  The  Promise  of  May,  in  three  acts,  was 
produced  at  the  Globe  Theatre  in  November,  1882,  and, 
while  severely  condemned  by  the  critics,  ran  for  five  weeks. 
The  Foresters,  in  four  acts,  was  given  at  Daly's  Theatre 
in  New  York  in  March,  1892,  and  with  Ada  Eehan  as 
Maid  Marian  was  an  unqualified  success. 

In  the  trilogy  of  historical  plays,  as  the  poet  notes  in 
his  Memoirs  (II,  173),  is  portrayed  the  making  of  Eng- 
land. In  Harold  is  set  forth  the  "  great  conflict  between 
Danes,  Saxons,  and  Normans  for  supremacy,  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  English  people  and  clergy  from  the  slumber 
into  which  they  had  for  the  most  part  fallen,  and  the  fore- 
cast of  the  greatness  of  our  composite  race."  In  BecJcet 
is  shown  the  age-long  struggle  between  the  Church  and  the 
Crown;  in  Queen  Mary  the  downfall  of  Eoman  Catholi- 
cism in  England  and  the  dawning  of  a  new  age.  All 
three  plays  awaken  many  technical  questions.  Harold  in 
plan  seems  to  be  somewhat  clearer  than  the  others.  The 
play  opens  brilliantly  with  a  comet  foretelling  war,  and 
in  the  first  act  lays  down  three  main  threads  of  story: 
(1)  the  strife  between  Harold  and  Tostig;  (2)  Harold's 
determination  to  go  to  Normandy  in  spite  of  Edward's 
advice  not  to  do  so;  and  (3)  the  plotting  of  Aldwyth,  the 
designing  widow  of  a  Welsh  king  whom  Harold  has  de- 
feated. The  fourth  act  employs  the  element  of  suspense 
in  the  victory  at  Stamford  Bridge,  but  is  otherwise  unfor- 
tunate ;  there  is  frequent  imitation  of  Shakespeare  through- 
out the  play;  the  characters  are  strangely  self-conscious; 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAMA     209 

and  the  last  act  misses  a  strong  opportunity  for  action 
when  it  has  Stigand  simply  describe  to  Edith  the  events 
of  the  Battle  of  Hastings.  Qiieen  Mary  uses  a  multitude 
of  characters,  and  the  first  act  presents  at  least  four 
threads  of  action  which  are  to  be  woven  together.  The 
overwhelming  prominence  of  Wyatt's  insurrection  in  the 
second  act,  however,  and  of  the  matter  of  Cranmer  in  the 
fourth,  is  not  always  clear  in  relation  to  the  main  theme; 
moreover  the  chief  characters  seem  rather  to  be  acted  upon 
than  to  act.  Beckei  attempted  to  combine  two  things 
which  could  not  be  brought  into  the  same  play  without  a 
violation  of  unity — Henry  II's  political  life,  in  which 
Becket  was  prominent,  and  his  romantic  and  domestic  life, 
in  which  Rosamund  de  Clifford  was  the  center  of  interest. 
In  the  opening  game  of  chess,  however,  it  has  one  of 
Tennyson's  very  strongest  situations. 

The  minor  plays  were  on  the  whole  more  successful  than 
the  trilogy,  though  by  no  means  always  above  criticism. 
The  Falcon  used  a  well-known  story  from  Boccaccio. 
.While  it  was  a  stage  success,  the  central  incident  of  the 
cooking  of  a  pet  bird  is  too  poignant  to  be  permanently 
pleasing,  and  the  story  seems  best  adapted  not  for  the  drama 
but  for  the  form  that  Longfellow  has  given  it  in  Tales 
of  a  ^¥ ay  side  Inn.  The  Cup  was  based  on  a  story  from 
Plutarch.  The  unholy  passion  of  the  ex-tetrarch  Synorix, 
and  the  faithfulness  of  the  matron  Camma  to  her  husband 
Sinnatus,  are  both  strongly  set  forth,  and  in  various  ways 
the  dramatist  here  shows  excellence  in  technique.  The 
Promise  of  May,  however,  was  unfortunate  in  theme. 
The  opinions  of  the  principal  man  are  such  as  to  arouse 
opposition  in  almost  any  English  or  American  audience, 
and  the  plan  to  have  this  character  ruin  one  sister  and 


210     A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

five  years  afterwards  pay  court  to  another,  is  something  of 
an  imposition  upon  credulity.  If  we  can  overlook  such 
things  as  these,  liowever,  we  shall  find  much  excellent  work- 
manship. The  Foresters,  once  more  placing  on  the  stage 
Ihe  tradition  of  Kohin  Hood,  and  aided  by  an  astute  man- 
ager and  capable  performers,  fully  deserved  the  success 
it  achieved. 

85.  Other  Mid-century  Dramatists. — The  middle  of 
the  century,  however,  was  on  the  whole  a  very  uncertain 
period  in  the  history  of  the  drama.  Eomanticism  was 
passing,  but  between  tragedy  and  melodrama,  adaptation 
and  farce,  hardly  any  one  could  tell  just  whither  things 
were  drifting.  The  chaotic  conditions  were  due  most 
largely  perhaps  to  the  Theatre  Eegulation  Act  of  1843 
legalizing  the  ^^  illegitimate  "  playhouses ;  the  old  theatres 
no  longer  had  a  monopoly  and  the  newer  ones  that  had 
come  into  existence  hardly  throve  under  the  far-reaching 
power  of  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  censorship.  A  rather 
crude  form  of  domestic  play  seemed  to  suit  the  popular 
taste  better  than  anything  else,  and  in  general  any  force 
to  combine  all  classes  in  the  development  of  a  national 
drama  was  lacking. 

To  the  field  of  thr  ^^loset  drama  belong  the  poetic  plays 
of  Eichard  Hengist  Home  (1803-1884).  Cosmo  de 
Medici  (ISoV;,  a  tragedy  in  five  acts,  has  a  plot  that 
strangely  reminds  one  of  Otway.  Two  brothers  fall  into  a 
fatal  quarrel.  The  murderer  attempts  to  conceal  the  deed 
which  he  hardly  intended  to  commit,  but  is  killed  by  his 
father,  who  himself  afterwards  dies  theatrically.  The 
Death  of  Marlowe  (1837),  Gregory  VII  (1840),  and 
Judas  Iscarwt  (1848)  all  have  their  marks  of  power. 

Y\'ith  *om8thing  of  the  quality  of  George  LiUo,  John 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRA:VIA     211 

Weatland  Marston  (1819-1890)  attempted  to  brir^r  tragedy 
to  the  plane  of  contemporary  life.  The  Patrwiarrs  Daugh- 
ter (1842)  has  a  singularly  clear  plot  and  one  that  touched 
very  vitally  the  English  life  of  the  day.  An  able  man  of 
affairs  of  humble  rank  is  cultivated  for  political  reasons 
by  a  family  of  aristocratic  birth.  In  course  of  time  he 
aspires  to  the  hand  of  "  the  patrician's  daughter,"  but  his 
proposal  is  spumed  by  the  family.  Later,  however,  the 
family  is  forced  to  turn  to  him  for  assistance  and  is  now 
willing  that  he  should  marry  the  young  woman.  He  now 
in  turn  spurns  the  suggestion,  and  the  shock  kills  the 
heroine,  who  had  really  loved  him  all  the  while.  This  play 
showed  more  than  ordinary  ability  and  was  well  received. 
Among  Marston's  other  dramas,  all  generally  meritorious, 
are  Strafhmore  (1849),  Marie  de  Meranie  (1850),  A  Lifr, 
Ransom  (185Y),  and  Life  for  Life  (1869).  He  was 
hardly  as  good  in  comedy  as  m  tragedy.  The  Favorite 
of  Fortune  (1866),  which  in  the  character  of  Mrs.  Lor- 
rington  gave  some  opportunity  for  a  comic  actress,  is  his 
most  successful  attempt  in  this  field. 

Out  of  the  comedy,  melodrama,  adaptation,  and  farce  of 
the  period,  engaging  the  attention  of  such  men  as  Isaac 
Pocock,  Douglas  William  Jerrold,  John  Baldwin  Buck- 
thorne,  Charles  Reade,  Tom  Taylor,  and  Henry  James 
Byron,  somehow  rises  the  name  of  Dion  Boucicault 
(Dionysius  Lardner  Bourcicault,  1820-1890).  This  pro- 
lific author  and  adapter  especiall}^  excelled  in  construction, 
and  though  he  borrowed  from  many  sources  he  generally 
wove  his  materials  together  in  a  swiftly  moving  plot,  and 
he  did  more  than  any  other  man  to  ^x  the  type  of  melo- 
drama in  his  period.  Early  in  his  cnreor  he  j^roducrd 
two  of  his  best  comedies,  the  famous  London  Assurance 


212     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

(1841)  and  Old  Heads  and  Yrmug  Hearts  (1844).  He 
it  was  who  adapted  The  Corsican  Brothers  (1852)  from 
the  work  of  Dumas.  He  it  was  also  who  showed  the  pos- 
sibilities of  the  Irish  drama  in  The  Colleen  Bawn  (1860), 
Arrah-na-pogue  (1865),  and  The  tihaughraun  (1875). 
His  work  was  light  and  for  a  day,  but  it  has  a  very  genu- 
ine importance  in  the  history  of  the  national  drama. 

86.    Robertson,  Gilbert,  and  the  Transition — Bouci- 
cault  was  largely  a  transitioral  figure.     He  was  "  at  the 
turning-point  between  the  purel}  theatrical  drama  of  the 
first  half  of  the  century  and  the  more  naturalistic  drama 
which  was  to  put  forth  a  bud  while  he  was  at  the  height  of 
his  career  a?  a  dramatist."  ^^    Quite  as  indicative  of  chang- 
ing taste,  though  in  a  way  somewhat  different,  was  Thomas 
William  Robertson   (1829-1871).      This  dramatist,  who 
came  of  a  family  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  English 
theatre,  served  a  long  apprenticeship,  making  many  adap- 
tations, especially  of  Erench  dramas  and  farces.     To  his 
more  mature  work  he  brought  a  realistic  method  of  treat- 
ment that  depended  for  its  merit  most  largely  on  its  simple 
revelation  of  life.     While  he  came  into  notice  in  1864 
with  David  Garrich,  it  was  with  Society  (1865),  a  play 
somewhat  reminiscent  of  Thackeray,  that  success  really 
came  to  him.    With  this  drama  he  placed  on  the  stage  the 
new  commercial  class,  the  power  of  the  press,  and  other 
themes  of  social  interest,  always  in  natural  dialogue  and 
with  the  utmost  care  for  truth.    Interestingly  enough,  this 
highly  successful  play  passed  from  one  hand  to  another 
until  H.  J.  Byron  recommended  it  to  Marie  Wilton  (later 
Mrs.  Bancroft),  who  had  recently  taken  the  Prince  of 
Wales's  Theatre  in  hand ;  and  there  is  no  better  instance 

»» H.  Child,  C,  H.  H,  L.,  XIII,  296. 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAMA    213 

of  ilne  faith  in  the  history  of  the  English  stage  than  the 
confidence  reposed  in  the  struggling  dramatist  by  the 
young  manager,  the  enthusiasm  with  which  his  plays  were 
acted,  and  his  gratitude  as  expressed  in  his  series  of  well- 
received  comedies.  Delicate  in  quality  and  with  some  touch 
of  the  patriotism  evoked  by  the  Crimean  War,  was  Ours 
(1866).  Caste  (1867),  however,  is  generally  considered 
Eobertson's  artistic  masterpiece.  Here  again,  with  some 
influence  from  Thackeray,  the  dramatist  dealt  in  simple 
emotion.  "  The  story  of  George  D'Alroy's  love  for  Esther, 
of  his  sudden  departure  for  the  war,  of  his  reported  death, 
and  of  his  return  to  find  his  wife  mourning  his  loss,  and 
himself  the  father  of  a  boy,  strikes  to  the  root  of  true 
pathos,  and  can  never  grow  stale  or  unimpressive  while 
human  nature  remains  what  it  is."  ^^  Eobertson  at  the 
height  of  his  success  supplied  two  or  three  theatres  with 
plays  at  a  time,  and  amoug  his  later  titles  were  Play 
(1868),  School  (1869),  M,  P.  (1870),  and  War  (1871). 
He  never  surpassed  Society  and  Caste,  however,  and  his 
contribution  to  the  drama  remains  a  simple  reliance  upon 
nature  that  helped  to  free  the  form  from  romanticism.  He 
deserves  credit,  also  for  his  emphasis  on  the  care  in 
production  that  helped  to  make  the  company  of  the  Ban- 
crofts famous  in  their  time.  He  founded  no  school,  though 
he  might  easily  have  done  so  had  not  the  Continental  influ- 
ences which  we  are  soon  to  consider  cut  across  his  path. 

Before  this  new  influence  rose  to  its  height,  however, 
there  appeared  on  the  scene  :  dramatist  of  singularly  origi- 
nal and  brilliant  quality,  William  S.  Gilbert  (1836-1911), 
most  famous  in  his  later  years  for  his  association  in  light 
opera  with  Sir  Arthur  Sullivan.    After  some  early  work 

*=  Pemberton:  Introduction  to  Society  and  Caste,  xxxiii. 


2U     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

in  burlesque,  Gilbert  passed  to  a  period  tbat  included 
sucb  plays  in  verse  as  Pygmalion  and  Galatea  (1871), 
The  Wicked  World  (1873),  and  Lroken  Heurts  (1875). 
'^  Tbese  plays  and  otbers  of  tbeir  kind  are  all  founded 
upon  a  single  idea,  tbat  of  self-revelation  by  cbaracters 
wbo  are  unaware  of  it,  under  tbe  influence  of  some  magic 
or  some  supernatural  interference.  The  satire  is  shrewd, 
but  not  profound ;  the  young  author  is  apt  to  sneer,  and  he 
has  by  no  means  learned  to  make  the  best  use  of  his 
curiously  logical  fancy.  That  he  occasionally  degrades 
high  and  beautiful  themes  is  not  surprising.  ...  In 
Pygmalion  and  Galatea,  and  still  more  in  Gretchen  (1879), 
a  perversion  of  part  of  the  story  of  jbuast,  the  vulgarity 
is  cynical  and  bitter.  And  in  Gilbert's  prose  plays  the 
same  spirit  may  be  found  in  greater  degree."  ^^  By  this 
time,  however,  he  had  already  shown  his  skill  in  the  Bah 
Ballads  (1869),  and  his  extraordinary  ability  in  the 
writing  of  graceful  songs  is  the  outstanding  feature  of  the 
series  of  comic  operas  which  began  with  Trial  hy  Jury 
(1875),  developed  into  a  vogue  with  H.  M.  S.  Pinafore 
(1878),  The  Pirates  of  Penzance  (1878),  and  The  Mikado 
(1885),  and  ended  with  The  Grand  Duke  (1896).  Gil- 
bert was  a  man  with  a  singular  gift  of  light  satire  and 
with  a  serious  undercurrent  to  his  humor.  In  such  a 
record  as  this  he  wears  an  air  of  detachment,  like  that  of 
a  sophisticated  but  urbane  man  of  the  world.  Withal 
there  was  something  very  practical  about  him  too,  and  he 
deserves  much  credit  for  his  insistence  on  the  rights  of  an 
author  in  a  production. 

Robertson  exerted  some  little  influence  on  one  or  two 
of  his  contemporaries,  but  Gilbert's  singular  genius  de- 

"  H.  ChUd,  C.  E.  E.  L.,  XIII,  304. 


EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DRAMA    215 

fied  imitators.  Both  men  in  the  light  of  history  somehow 
stand  apart  from  other  writers  of  their  time.  Neither 
began  a  tradition,  but  together  they  did  away  with  the 
old  drama  and  helped  to  make  England  ready  for  the  new. 


CHAPTER  XII 

LATEE  VICTOKIAJST  AI^D  CONTEMPORAEY 

DRAMA:  ANALYSIS  AND  THE 

SOCIAL  IMPULSE 

87.  Continental  Influences. — "  There  is  a  week  that  is 
the  turn  of  the  year ;  there  was  a  year  that  was  the  turn  of 
the  century.  About  1870  the  force  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion faltered  and  fell:  the  year  that  was  everywhere  the 
death  of  Liberal  ideas :  the  year  when  Paris  fell :  the  year 
when  Dickens  died.  .  .  .  Liberalism  (in  Newman's 
sense)  really  did  strike  Christianity  through  headpiece 
and  head ;  that  is,  it  did  daze  and  stun  the  ignorant  and  ill- 
prepared  intellect  of  the  English  Christian.  And  Chris- 
tianity did  smite  Liberalism  through  breastplate  and 
through  breast;  that  is,  it  did  succeed,  through  arms  and 
all  sorts  of  awful  accidents,  in  piercing  more  or  less  to  the 
heart  of  the  Utilitarian — and  finding  that  he  had  none. 
Victorian  Protestantism  had  not  head  enough  for  the  busi- 
ness; Victorian  Radicalism  had  not  heart  enough  for  the 
business.  Down  fell  they  dead  together,  exactly  as  Macau- 
lay's  Lay  says  and  still  stood  all  who  saw  them  fall  almost 
until  the  hour  at  which  I  write." 

Thus  brilliantly  has  the  brilliant  Chesterton  ^  struck 
the  keynote  of  the  period  to  which  we  have  come.  It 
was  not  an  age  of  idealism,  but  of  pessimism,  largely 

*  The  Victorian  Age  in  Literature,  213-15. 

216 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA     217 

consequent  upon  the  materialism  of  which  one  had  heard 
for  years.  Romanticism  "was  dead,  but  it  had  an  after- 
glow in  Pre-Raphaelitism,  and  a  second  afterglow  in  aes- 
theticism;  and  when  the  exotic  lilies  could  no  longer  con- 
ceal their  frailty  they  crumbled — into  ashes. 

All  went  back  to  De  Quincey,  "  the  first  and  most 
powerful  of  the  decadents ;  '^  and  De  Quincey  has  some 
affinity  with  Congreve.  The  principle  also  touched  the 
paganism  of  Keats.  The  sensuousness  of  this  great  poet 
is  reflected  in  Eossetti,  his  chivalry  in  Hunt,  and  his  wood- 
carving  in  Morris.  Of  the  great  poets  of  the  middle  of  the 
century,  Browning  alone  opposed  a  solid  front  to  the  forces 
of  decay.  Tennyson  wrote  In  Memoriam  and  in  the  wide 
field  of  criticism  the  influences  at  work  developed  the 
'^  Art  for  Art's  sake  "  heresy,  one  of  the  most  subtle  and 
at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  powerful  forces  ever 
exerted  in  imaginative  literature.  Three  great  prose  writ- 
ers— De  Quincey,  Poe,  and  Pater — inspired  or  represented 
this  movement.  De  Quincey  emphasized  style,  Poe  beauty, 
and  Pater  a  rather  eflete  something  called  aestheticism. 
The  first  influenced  the  second,  and  the  second  the  third. 
Poe's  great  divorce  of  art  and  morality  was  fatal,  and  it 
is  the  key  to  much  of  the  pessimism  and  many  of  the 
wasted  lives  strewn  like  wrecks  over  the  reign  of  Victoria. 
His  influence  was  frankly  acknowledged  by  Rossetti. 
Formerly  romanticism,  developing  with  the  Wesleyan  re- 
viva],  had  encouraged  the  love  of  nature  and  communion 
with  God ;  but  now  science,  looking  at  Poe's  three  facul- 
ties— intellect,  feeling,  will — appropriated  the  first;  ra- 
tionalism, substituted  for  religion,  turned  the  will  to  its 
purpose;  and  art  was  told  to  shift  for  itself.  It  did — 
and  with  a  vengeancej 


218     A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

This  decadent  principle — this  supremo  emphasis  on 
style  and  lilies — was  in  1870,  however,  largely  a  foreign 
importation.  Certainly  it  was  foreign  in  so  far  as  it  af- 
fected the  drama.  Gleaming  in  the  lyrics  of  Musset  or 
Les  Fleurs  du  Mai  of  Baudelaire,  it  was  carried  into  the 
drama  in  Musset's  own  Lorenzaccio,  On  the  side  of  tech- 
nique it  devel  oped  /  i  ito  a  school  with  the  pattern-made 
plays  of  Scribe ;  in  subject-matter  it  was  largely  stimulated 
by  Dumas  and  Sardou.  Swinburne  was  steeped  in  it,  and 
something  of  it  entered  into  his  poetic  dramas.  In  1871 
moreover,  after  decades  in  which  foreigners  were  unwel- 
come, the  company  of  the  Comedie  Frangaise  came  to 
England  and  was  received  with  enthusiasm.  In  1879  it 
came  again,  and  this  time  it  included  such  performers  as 
Favart,  Delaunay,  and  Sarah  Bernhardt.  In  the  light 
of  the  great  art  and  the  finish  of  the  French  productions, 
Englishmen  began  to  feel  very  provincial.  Even  Matthew 
Arnold  wrote  an  article,  ^^  The  French  Play  in  London," 
pleading  for  a  stronger  national  theatre. 

This,  however,  is  only  half  of  the  story.  One  can  not 
fully  estimate  the  English  drama  of  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury if  he  does  not  also  take  into  account  the  social  impulse. 
Here  again  the  influence  came  from  France,  but  perhaps 
in  even  larger  measure  from  j^orway.  Something  of  it 
was  to  be  seen  in  the  work  of  Feuillet  and  Augier.  Still 
more  was  it  in  Hugo.  Sometimes  it  descended  into  melo- 
drama. There  was  also  about  it,  however,  a  serious  ele- 
ment that  could  not  lightly  be  waved  aside.  Sue's  Les 
Mystlres  de  Paris  and  Hugo's  Notre  Dame  became  the 
inspiration  of  a  long  line  of  plays,  which  with  Les  Mise- 
rahles  (1862)  developed  into  a  vogue.  The  Streets  of 
London,  Lights  o  London,  London  hy  Gaslight,  Under  the 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA    21i) 

Gaslight,  and  London  Life  were  only  a  few  of  many 
similar  titles. 

If  Hugo,  however,  was  the  heart  of  social  unrest,  its 
soul  was  Henryk  Ibsen  (1828-1906).  This  great  Nor- 
wegian dramatist  was  first  introduced  to  England  by  an 
article  by  Mr.  Edmund  Gosse  in  the  Fortnightly  Review 
in  1873.  Not  long  afterwards  Mr.  William  Archer  made 
himself  the  translator  and  general  sponsor  in  England  for 
the  new  voice ;  and  within  fifteen  years  the  representative 
plays  of  the  dramatist  had  in  one  way  or  another  been  set 
before  the  British  public.  Furious  discussion  arose.  At 
the  head  of  the  opposition  and  generally  representative  of 
conservative  elements  was  Clement  Scott,  probably  the 
foremost  dramatic  critic  of  the  day.  There  could  be  no 
question  as  to  Ibsen's  great  ability  in  analysis  and  tech- 
nique; and  in  the  long  run  he  contributed  most  vitally  to 
the  emancipation  of  the  drama  by  his  insistence  upon  frank 
discussion  of  the  great  social  problems  agitating  the  age. 
He  felt  that  there  could  be  no  progi-ess  if  there  was  not 
absolute  honesty.  Naturally  he  developed  upon  the  stage 
many  subjects  that  formerly  had  been  proscribed.  His 
fearless  driving  of  bad  premises  to  a  logical  conclusion 
tended  toward  pessimism,  while  his  consideration  of  such 
subjects  as  marriage  and  heredity  tended  toward  an  ab- 
sorption with  sex  problems  from  which  we  are  not  yet 
free. 

These  two  great  influences — a  decadent  principle  that 
emphasized  surface  beauty  and  style,  and  a  realism  that 
easily  descended  into  naturalism,  in  one  way  or  another 
constantly  affected  the  drama  in  the  closing  years  of  the 
century.  Not  inirequently  they  became  interwoven.  It  is 
also  worthy  of  note  in  passing  that  England  again  wit- 


220     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

nessed  an  array  of  great  performers.  As  at  tiie  beginning 
of  the  century,  a  period  of  uncertainty  in  the  drama  was 
partially  atoned  for  by  a  great  era  in  the  history  of  the 
English  stage.  The  Bancrofts,  the  Kendals/  and  Irving 
and  Terry  gave  a  new  care  to  their  work  and  greatly  in- 
creased the  dignity  of  the  actor's  profession.^ 

88.  Oscar  Wilde. — The  prime  representative  of  aes- 
theticism  as  it  affected  the  drama  was  Oscar  Wilde  (1856- 
1900),  a  writer  who  was  singularly  gifted  in  understand- 
ing a  passing  mood  of  the  day  in  which  he  lived  and  in 
responding  to  this  with  brilliant  epigrams.  His  plays  were 
as  follows:  Vera,  or  The  NihiUds  (1883),  The  Dutchess 
of  Padua  (1891),  Lady  Winderm£res  Fan  (1892),  A 
Woman  of  No  Importance  (1893),  Salome  (1895),  An 
Ideal  Husband  (1895),  and  The  Importance  of  Being 
Earnest  (1895).  Lady  Windermere's  Fan,  a  study  in  the 
attitiide  of  society  toward  a  woman  who  has  lost  re- 
spectability, is  perhaps  most  typical  of  the  dramatist's 
skilful  craftsmanship.  Lord  Windermere  would  have 
Lady  Windermere  invite  Mrs.  Erlynne  to  her  birth- 
day party.  The  suggestion  is  indignantly  spurned.  Later, 
however,  Mrs.  Erlynne,  who  is  really  Lady  Windermere's 
mother,  saves  ber  daughter  in  an  exceedingly  compromis- 
ing situation  by  taking  the  burden  upon  herself ;  and  Lady 
Windermere  never  knows  the  real  basis  of  the  sacrifice. 
Actual  performance  of  this  play,  as  with  others  by  the 
dramatist,  almost  invariably  impresses  one  with  his  tense- 

*  Note  that  Mrs.  Kendal  was  Madge  Robertson,  youngest  sister  of 
T.  W.  Robertson. 

■  For  a  brief  clear  statement  of  the  precision  and  finish  of  the 
■work  of  the  Bancrofts  and  Kendals,  and  their  encouragement  of 
native  effort,  as  distinguished  from  Irving'a  adherence  to  older  tradi- 
tions, see  Dickinson,  49-67. 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA    221 

ness  of  situation ;  and  there  is  in  some  ways  even  stronger 
work  in  The  Importance  of  Being  Earnest,  "  a  trivial 
comedy  for  serious  people.'^  Salome,  sl  one-act  play  built 
on  the  story  of  the  dancing  before  Herod,  is  in  the  style  of 
the  decadents.  The  work  proved  to  possess  tremendous 
theatrical  appeal,  however,  and  created  something  of  a 
vogue.  In  Wilde's  wit  and  artifice  there  is  much  of 
the  spirit  of  Kestoration  comedy  at  its  best,  and  while  the 
period  of  his  gTeatest  popularity  is  now  past,  one  is  still 
forced  to  reckon  with  the  art  and  intellect  that  could  give 
life  to  so  much  that  otherwise  would  be  trivial  and  super- 
ficial. 

89.  Arthur  Wing  Pinero — Sir  Arthur  Wing  Pinero 
(1855 — )  has  won  the  very  high  place  that  he  holds 
among  living  English  dramatists  primarily  by  his  ex- 
celling craftsmanship.  Beginning  his  professional  life  as 
an  actor,  he  soon  turned  to  the  composition  of  plays,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  his  gifts  were  recognized.  In  1877 
his  first  play,  £200  a  Year,  was  produced,  and  since  that 
time  he  has  adapted  or  written  for  the  stage  not  less  than 
forty  pieces.  Among  the  early  and  very  successful  farces 
were  The  MagiMrate  (1885),  The  Schoolmistress  (1886), 
and  Dandy  Dick  (1887).  Siveet  Lavender  (1888)  by  its 
tender  sentiment  made  the  author  famous.  Beginning  with 
The  Profligate  (1889),  however,  Pinero  entered  the  realm 
of  social  study  and  the  problem  play.  In  this  drama  a 
young  man,  Dunstan  Eenshaw,  on  the  night  before  his 
wedding  is  brought  face  to  face  with  the  young  woman  he 
has  wronged.  The  play  was  originally  designed  to  end 
either  with  a  tragedy  or  with  the  hero's  being  forgiven. 
The  Second  Mrs,  Tanqueray  attracted  an  extraordinary 
amount  of  attention  and  gave  its  author  a  place  among 


222     A  SHOET  HISTOEY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

English  plajwriglits  that  he  has  never  since  lost.  The 
drama,  which  was  unusually  well  construcied,  showed  some 
influence  not  only  from  Ibsen  but  also  from  such  French 
writers  as  Scribe  and  Augier.  Aubrey  Tanqueray  would 
marry  Paula,  a  woman  he  loves  and  about  whose  past 
he  knows.  Can  such  a  marriage,  asks  the  play,  be  a 
success?  Much  is  represented  in  the  attitude  of  Tan- 
queray's  own  daughter  Ellean;  and  in  spite  of  the  good 
will  of  a  loyal  friend,  Cayley  Drummle,  the  forces  to  be 
met  are  too  strong  for  Aubrey  and  still  more  so  for  Paula. 
In  even  more  decadent  tone  was  The  Notorious  Mrs.  Ebb- 
smith  (1895).  Among  Pinero's  strong  later  dramas  in 
different  vein  are  The  Princess  and  the  Butterfly  (1897), 
a  play  of  fine  fantasy  and  sentiment.  The  Gat/  Lord  Quex 
(1899),  one  of  strong  characterization  and  keen  wit, 
The  Thunderbolt  (1908),  a  searchingly  realistic  and 
satirical  study  of  a  group  of  provincial  characters  inter- 
ested in  the  will  of  a  deceased  relative,  and  Mid-Channel 
(1909),  largely  a  study  in  neurasthenia.  Whatever  may 
be  this  distinguished  artistes  final  place  in  the  history  of  the 
drama,  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  his  mastery  of 
technique  or  his  high  conception  of  his  calling. 

go.  Henry  Arthur  Jones. — Along  with  Sir  Arthur 
Pinero,  Henry  Arthur  Jones  (1851 — )  has  worked  within 
the  last  generation  for  a  general  broadening  of  the  scope 
of  the  drama  and  for  giving  this  a  closer  relation  to  life. 
While  not  surpassing  Pinero  in  technique,  by  the  books 
and  essays  he  has  written  and  the  lectures  he  has  delivered 
he  has  made  himself  outstanding  in  work  for  the  general 
improvement  of  the  English  stage.  In  fact  it  is  hardly 
too  much  to  speak  of  him  as  a  propagandist  for  the  theatre. 
He  has  interested  himself  not  only  in  such  things  as  copy- 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA    223 

right,  censorship,  and  national  support  for  the  theatre,  but 
perhaps  even  more  in  the  attitude  of  ordinary  men  and 
women  toward  the  drama.  In  1895  appeared  The  Eenas-^ 
cence  of  the  English  Drarmj  in  1912  Foundations  of  a 
National  Theatre;  and  more  recently  (1919)  Patriotism 
and  Popular  Education.  Jones's  own  plays,  while  includ- 
ing tragedy  and  melodrama,  are  most  distinctive  as  carry- 
ing on  the  tradition  of  the  fine  satire  and  the  high  comedy 
of  Congreve  and  Sheridan.  He  owes  little  to  foreign 
influence.  Beginning  with  several  short  plays,  written 
largely  in  collaboration  with  others,  in  1882  he  achieved 
his  first  great  success  with  the  melodrama,  The  Silver 
King,  which  deserved  attention  by  reason  of  its  well- 
directed  dialogue  and  its  swift  succession  of  startling  situ- 
ations. Encouraged  and  made  more  free  by  this  success, 
with  Saints  and  Sinners  (1884)  Jones  struck  the  real  key- 
note of  his  later  work,  giving  a  criticism  of  society  which 
showed  more  than  usual  foreign  influence  upon  his  work. 
Outstanding  in  the  long  list  of  plays  since  this  strong 
drama  are  Judah  (1890),  a  characteristic  production  with 
figures  good  and  bad,  The  Masqueraders  (1894),  a  search- 
ing study  of  social  types  marked  by  unflinching  realism, 
The  Liars  (1897),  a  comedy  of  manners  with  much  clever 
construction  and  dialogue,  Mrs.  Dane's  Defence  (1900), 
the  story  of  a  sinning  woman  who  in  a  new  community  en- 
deavors to  live  down  her  past,  and  The  Hypocrites  (1906). 
To  these  must  be  added  the  tragic  and  baffling  play, 
Michael  and  his  Lost  Angel  (1896),  a  favorite  of  the 
author  among  his  works  but  hardly  a  stage  success.  With 
such  worthy  productions  has  Henry  Arthur  Jones  made  his 
contribution  to  the  dramatic  renascence  that  he  ever  longed 
to  see  and  of  which  he  has  been  so  large  a  part. 


224     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAMA 

91.  George  Bernard  Shaw. — Quite  as  representative  as 
Pinero  and  Jones  of  the  age  in  which  he  lives  (though 
frequently  representing  that  age  on  the  negative  side)  is 
George  Bernard  Shaw  (1856 — ),  one  of  those  remark- 
able individuals  whose  personalities  somehow  iake  prece- 
dence over  their  work,  however  brilliant  or  clever  their 
work  may  be.  At  the  age  of  twenty  Shaw  went  from  his 
native  Dublin  to  London,  and  for  fully  twenty  years  there- 
after labored  as  journalist,  lecturer,  novelist,  playwright, 
and  critic  of  art,  music  and  the  drama,  before  any  real  suc- 
cess came  to  him.  Meanwhile  he  identified  himself  with 
various  unpopular  causes ;  he  became  a  champion  of  Ibsen, 
and  his  general  sympathy  for  socialism  tempered  much  of 
his  later  work.  Even  as  a  member  of  the  Fabian  Society, 
however,  there  was  something  intensely  practical — some- 
thing common  sense — about  his  attack  on  capitalism  that 
distinguished  him  from  the  emotional  revolutionist  and 
that  made  the  common  crowd  instinctively  draw  away  from 
him.  Afterwards  in  life,  as  in  this  case,  he  generally 
was  not  where  people  thought  he  was.  Any  attempt  at  the 
interpretation  of  George  Bernard  Shaw,  however,  is  dan- 
gerous, and  he  would  probably  be  the  first  to  say  it  is  all 
wrong.  For  him  the  theatre  has  been  largely  simply  a 
means  to  an  end,  an  instrument  through  which  he  might 
speak  his  message  to  the  world.  The  world,  however,  was 
slow  to  hear  him.  His  plays  won  no  real  success  before 
they  were  formally  published — as  Plays  Pleasant  and  TJri'- 
'pleasant  (two  volumes,  1898)  and  Plays  for  Puritans 
(1900).  The  stage  directions,  the  descriptions,  and  the 
personal  touch  given  in  this  form  attracted  the  public  and 
eventually  built  up  an  audience.  Said  Shaw  in  closing 
the  preface  to  the  first  of  these  publications :  "A  word  as 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA     225 

to  why  I  have  labeled  the  three  plays  in  this  first  voliime 
Unpleasant.  The  reason  is  pretty  obvious :  their  dramatic 
power  is  used  to  force  the  spectator  to  face  unpleasant 
facts.  No  doubt  all  plays  which  deal  sincerely  with  hu- 
manity must  wound  the  monstrous  conceit  which  it  is  the 
business  of  romance  to  flatter.''  The  plays  thus  brought 
together  and  those  that  came  afterwards  were  generally  in 
keeping  with  the  principle  here  laid  down.  Widowers' 
Houses  (1892)  arraigns  a  society  that  permits  property 
owners  to  support  their  luxuries  by  the  high  rents  imposed 
on  poor  people;  The  Philanderer  (1892)  is  a  satire  di- 
rected against  those  who  fear  the  full  logic  of  Ibsen ;  Mrs. 
Warreris  Profession  (1902,  printed  1898)  thrust  before 
the  public  some  of  the  causes  of  prostitution ;  Arm^  and  the 
Idan  (1894)  satirizes  the  extravagant  and  romantic  ad- 
miration with  which  the  soldier  is  invested;  Candida 
(1897),  probably  the  dramatist's  strongest  acting  play,  is 
largely  concerned  with  social  reform  and  questions  of  sex ; 
The  Man  of  Destiny  (189Y)  makes  an  attack  on  hero- 
worship  by  belittling  Napoleon;  The  DeviVs  Disciple 
(1897),  a  shrewd  study  of  the  good  and  bad  in  humanity, 
is  essentially  a  criticism  of  melodrama;  Man  and  Siipcr- 
rmin  (1903),  which  really  marks  a  new  stage  in  the  work 
of  the  dramatist — one  of  emphasis  on  mental  states — is  a 
pitiless  dissection  of  love  and  home;  John  BulVs  Other 
Island  (1903)  is  a  detached  treatment  of  the  author's 
native  Ireland  that  adds  to  the  viewpoint  of  a  British  citi- 
zen something  of  the  Irishman's  humor;  The  Doctors 
Dilemnia  (1906)  through  many  episodes  makes  an  attack 
on  the  professional  man;  Fanny's  First  Play  1911),  one 
of  the  dramatist's  most  popular  and  characteristic  produc- 
tions, shows  a  play  in  progress  and  gives  much  oppor- 


226     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

tunity  for  satire  and  wit;  while  Androcles  and  the  Lion 
(1912)  and  Pygmalion  (1913)  are  representative  of  later 
powerful  and  mature  work.  Shaw's  dramas  are  uneven 
in  quality;  but  it  is  evident  that  his  very  originality  makes 
it  difficult  to  pass  over  any  of  his  plays  lightly.  He  is 
not  a  great  technical  artist  like  Pinero,  but  he  is  an  origi- 
nal and  clever  dramatist  and,  more  than  all  else,  an  emi- 
nent critic  of  life. 

92.  James  Matthev^  Barrie. — To  pass  from  George 
Bernard  Shaw  to  Sir  James  Matthew  Barrie  (1860 — ) 
is  to  go  from  realism  to  romance,  from  satire  to  delicate 
fancy.  Barrie  is  distinguished  as  novelist  as  well  as  dram- 
atist, and  the  tenderness  and  charm  of  his  Sentimental 
Tommy  and  The  Little  Minister  are  also  in  Peter  Pan 
and  What  Every  Woman  Knows.  To  his  fine  fantasy  he 
has  added  a  genuine  spiritual  quality,  best  seen  in  his 
emphasis  on  the  child  in  literature;  and  he  has  also  ex- 
celled in  handling  the  mind  of  woman.  [N'aturally  with 
such  emphasis  he  is  somewhat  apart  from  his  contempo- 
raries. For  him  the  stage  is  not  for  problems ;  he  has  no 
propaganda.  Accordingly,  by  those  who  are  most  "  ad- 
vanced "  he  has  sometimes  been  called  a  reactionary.  He 
is,  however,  rather  an  idealist  searching  for  something  more 
enduring  than  the  latest  whim  of  fashion ;  and  in  concep- 
tion of  character  he  is  probably  unsurpassed  by  any  living 
dramatist.  Withal  he  has  been  a  most  practical  and 
facile  worker,  happily  finding  in  America  at  least,  in  Miss 
Maude  Adams,  an  artist  fully  capable  of  interpreting  his 
productions.  Probably  most  famous  of  his  several  very 
famous  plays  are  The  Little  Minister  (1897),  The  Ad- 
rmralle  Crichton  (1903),  Peter  Pan  (1904),  and  What 
Every  Wonrnn  Knows  (190S).     The  Admirable  Crichton 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAIMA    227 

with  humor  and  skill  handles  the  situation  of  the  family 
of  a  peer  wrecked  on  a  desert  island,  where  the  butler  of 
the  family  proves  himself  the  most  resourceful  person  in 
the  group.  Thoroughly  typical  of  the  dramatist  are  the 
means  to  which  he  resorts  in  order  to  sustain  interest. 
Crichton,  for  instance,  left  alone  by  his  haughty  superiors, 
depends  on  nightfall  and  hunger  to  bring  them  to  his  in- 
viting camp-fire.  After  two  years  moreover,  when  Crich- 
ton has  fallen  in  love  with  Lady  Mary,  the  boom  of  the 
cannon  of  a  passing  ship  indicates  that  they  are  about  to 
be  rescued,  and  at  once  all  the  questions  of  returning  to  the 
former  class  distinctions  center  in  a  moment  of  supreme 
tension.  In  Wh<it  Every  Wonvan  Knows  Barrie  also  gives 
beneath  the  surface  a  serious  study.  He  will  ever  be  most 
widely  known  and  loved,  however,  for  Peter  Pan,  a  drama- 
tization of  the  novel,  The  Little  White  Bird.  Peter  Pan, 
carefree  and  full  of  pranks,  visits  three  little  children  while 
they  are  asleep  and  teaches  them  to  fly  away  with  him. 
He  carries  them  to  the  fairy-world,  to  the  pirate  ship,  and 
at  last  to  his  own  home  in  the  treetops.  The  play  com- 
bines fancy,  symbolism,  and  realism,  but  throughout  the 
whole  is  also  the  tenderness  that  is  the  very  essence  of 
human  life.  A  Kiss  for  Cinderella  (1916)  and  Dear 
Brutus  (1917)  are  important  in  the  dramatist's  later 
work. 

93.  John  Galsworthy. — Like  Barrie  in  that  he  is  suc- 
cessful both  as  dramatist  and  novelist,  but  more  like  Shaw 
in  his  emphasis  on  social  problems,  is  John  Galsworthy 
(1867 — ).  This  man  is  not  only  one  of  the  finest  intel- 
lects but  also  one  of  the  most  sincere  of  living  English 
writers — simple,  straightforward,  and  humanitarian.  Es- 
sentially earnest,  he  never  fails  to  impress  his  audience 


228     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

by  the  wortli  of  "what  he  has  to  saj,  and  even  in  his  first 
play,  The  Silver  Box  (1906),  he  revealed  his  characteristic 
qualities.  Strife  (1909)  sets  forth  the  contest  between 
capital  and  labor,  the  two  outstanding  figures  being  An- 
thony, the  honest  and  misguided  capitalist,  and  Eoberts, 
the  honest  but  equally  misguided  representative  of  labor. 
Justice  (1910)  is  a  plea  for  prison  reform.  Galsworthy's 
very  good-intention  in  such  plays  as  these,  however,  has 
somehow  given  them  the  air  of  sociological  studies  rather 
than  of  artistic  productions,  excellent  though  they  may 
be.  Some  counteracting  fancy  was  to  be  seen  in  Joy 
(190Y),  The  Pigeon  (1912),  and  The  Little  Dream 
(1912).  The  Eldest  Son  (1912),  The  Fugitive  (1913), 
and  The  Moh  (1914),  however,  return  to  the  dramatist's 
characteristic  vein  of  seriousness  and  realism.  Even  yet 
he  solves  none  of  the  problems  that  he  offers;  he  is  still 
detached,  with  the  smile  of  experience  and  the  yearning 
for  something  better  still  pondering  ''  the  riddle  of  the 
world." 

94.  Stephen  Phillips.— Stephen  Phillips  (1868-1915), 
unlike  most  dramatists  of  recent  years,  chose  verse  as  his 
dramatic  medium.  In  1898,  with  the  publication  of  his 
poems,  including  *^  Christ  in  Hades  "  and  "  The  Woman 
with  the  Dead  Soul,"  he  became  the  most  discussed  poet 
in  England,  and  on  the  publication  of  Paolo  and  Fran- 
cesca  (1900)  criticism  as  well  as  the  common  voice  in- 
dulged in  superlatives.  The  day  of  the  poetic  drama 
seemed  to  have  come  again,  and  the  new  author  was  com- 
pared with  the  greatest  figures  in  English  literary  history. 
Ilerod)  was  presented  on  the  stage  in  1900,  Paolo  and 
Francesca  in  1901,  Ulysses:  and  The  Sin  of  David  in  1902, 
and  Nero  in  1906.    These  plays,  however,  did  not  so  much 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA     229 

impress  the  public  in  the  theatre  as  in  book  form.  There 
could  be  no  denying  the  highly  musical  quality  of  much 
of  the  poetry  of  Phillips,  or  his  lyrical  imagination,  or 
even  a  certain  command  of  the  mechanics  of  the  stage. 
All  these  qualities  taken  together,  however,  did  not  make 
him  an  effective  dramatist,  and  his  failure  to  justify  the 
promise  of  his  earlier  years  furnished  the  greatest  dis- 
appointment in  recent  dramatic  history.  One  critic* 
summing  up  his  work  at  the  time  of  his  death  spoke  ably 
as  follows :  "  Though  he  had  his  moments  of  inspiration, 
he  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  established  his  right  to  be 
accounted  a  great  dramatist.  The  fertile  fancy,  power, 
passion,  or  sheer  literary  beauty  of  his  finest  scenes  exerted 
a  charm  that  distracted  attention  from  occasional  flaws 
in  workmanship,  which  in  other  circumstances  might  have 
been  only  too  apparent.  It  would  not  be  true  to  say  that 
his  plays,  from  Paolo  and  Francesca  to  Armageddon,  are 
more  akin  to  romantic  melodrama,  even  of  a  high  order, 
than  to  tragedy.  They  reach  emotional  heights  which  are 
tragic  in  the  fullest  and  strictest  meaning  of  that  word. 
But,  not  infrequently,  in  construction  and  device,  they 
adopt  expedients  which  are  purely  melodramatic  and  theat- 
rical. Of  his  meditated  effects,  the  climaxes  of  precon- 
ceived situations,  he  had  a  secure  grasp.  He  developed 
them  with  unfailing  skill  and  brilliant  literary  and  dra- 
matic coloring.  Where  he  failed  was  in  the  exposition  of 
causes  which  should  lead  logically  to  results.  lie  was  not 
a  great  play-maker.  He  could  not  weave  the  pattern  of  a 
plot  with  the  plausible  ingenuity  of  Scribe,  Sardou,  Sheri- 
dan, Pinero,  or  Henry  Arthur  Jones.  In  great  tragedy 
there  must  be  the  element  of  apparent  inevitability.  Even 
*  J.  Rankin  Towse  in  New  York  Evening  Post. 


230     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

in  dealing  with  an  ancient  tale,  with  prescribed  facts,  this 
is  a  law  from  which  the  dramatist  has  no  appeal.  It  was 
a  law  that  Mr.  Phillips  either  did  not  appreciate  or  dis- 
regarded." 

95.  Granville  Barker. — As  moral  as  Galsworthy  but 
excelling  him  in  artistry,  as  interested  in  life  as  Shaw  but 
excelling  him  in  art,  is  H.  Granville  Barker  (1877 — ). 
This  well-known  dramatist  came  on  the  scene  just  at  the 
time  when  England  was  being  stirred  by  various  independ- 
ent movements  for  the  betterment  of  the  theatre  and  when 
there  was  a  general  clamor  for  more  intellectual  freedom. 
He  began  life  as  an  actor  and  in  course  of  time  played 
with  such  artists  as  Ben  Greet  and  Mrs.  Campbell.  Erom 
time  to  time  also  he  produced  plays  for  the  Elizabethan 
Stage  Society  and  in  1904  he  assumed  the  management  of 
the  Court  Theatre  in  London.  Here  he  made  a  great  repu- 
tation not  only  by  his  production  of  Shakespeare  but  also 
by  that  of  the  modem  intellectual  drama  of  Shaw,  Barrie, 
Galsworthy,  Hankin,  and  himself;  and  by  his  later  work 
at  other  houses  as  well  as  at  the  Court  he  gave  a  new 
standard  to  the  repertory  theatre.  Among  the  more  inter- 
esting and  typical  of  his  own  plays,  which  show  much 
influence  from  Shaw,  are  The  Marrying  of  Anna  Leete 
(1902),  The  Voysey  Inheritance  (1905),  and  The  Madras 
House  (1910).  The  first  of  these  three  plays  emphasizes 
the  freedom  that  comes  to  woman  with  the  newer  knowl- 
edge of  the  world ;  the  second  is  a  comedy  of  business  in- 
viting comparison  with  Pinero's  The  ThiiTiderholt ;  and 
the  third  is  a  further  study  of  woman  in  modern  society. 

96.  Irish  National  Theatre.  Lady  Gregory. — One  of 
the  most  interesting  movements  of  the  new  century  and 
one  with  the  greatest  measure  of  success,  is  that  of  the  Irish 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA    231 

National  Theatre.  In  1899-1900  strong  patriotic  feeling 
and  interest  in  the  peasant  life  and  folk-lore  of  their  coun- 
try impelled  a  group  of  playwrights  and  patrons  to  or- 
ganize the  Irish  National  Theatre  Society.  Prominent 
in  the  effort  were  Lady  Augusta  Gregory,  William  Butler 
Yeats,  Edward  Martyn,  George  Moore,  and  G.  W.  Rus- 
sell ("  A.  E.")-  The  object  of  the  Irish  National  Theatre 
is  twofold :  to  produce  plays  of  finer  literary  quality  than 
one  witnessed  in  most  theatres,  and  to  set  forth  native  Irish 
life  and  character,  both  peasant  and  heroic.  The  move- 
ment made  strong  patriotic  appeal.  Stories  were  gathered 
from  the  lips  of  living  peasants,  and  anything  affecting 
Irish  tradition  or  folk-lore  was  treasured.  While  such 
strong  and  constructive  elements  entered  into  the  new  insti- 
tution, in  another  way,  especially  as  represented  by  Yeats, 
it  has  been  but  one  more  expression  of  the  neo-romantic 
tendencies  of  which  we  have  already  heard  so  much. 

Lady  Gregory,  already  distinguished  for  her  studies  in 
Celtic  mythology,  from  the  very  first  has  been  one  of  the 
most  important  figures  of  the  Irish  National  Theatre. 
She  has  lectured  and  written  much,  co-operating  with  in- 
numerable organizations  for  the  welfare  of  her  country; 
and  especially  has  she  been  distinguished  in  her  capacity  as 
manager  of  the  Abbey  Theatre  in  Dublin.  Here  she  has 
shown  anew  the  dramatic  possibilities  of  peasant  life  and 
of  the  one-act  play;  she  has  built  up  a  strong  stock  com- 
pany with  new  traditions;  and  generally  has  succeeded 
in  improving  the  taste  of  her  public.  Representative  of 
her  wholesome  lighter  comedy  are  Spreading  the  News 
(1904)  and  Hyacinth  Rnlvey  (1906),  both  included  in 
the  volume,  Seven  Short  Plays;  while  The  Gaol  Gate 
(1906),  The  Traveling  Man  (1901),  and  The  Rising  of 


232     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

the  Moon  (1907)  represent  her  more  serious  temper. 
Lady  Gregory  is  the  perfect  representative  of  the  Irish 
Xational  Theatre  nninfliienced  hy  continental  tendencies. 
97.  William  Butler  Yeats.— William  Butler  Yeats 
(1865 — ),  born  in  Dublin,  in  addition  to  training  in  his 
native  city  and  in  London,  also  studied  the  theatre  in 
Paris  in  his  earlier  years.  The  fact  is  important  in  con- 
nection with  his  work,  for  to  his  exposition  of  the  lore  and 
legend  of  Ireland  he  has  also  brought  some  touch  with  the 
neo-romanticists.  In  his  wandering  with  "  the  wind 
among  the  reeds  "  or  by  "  shadowy  waters  "  he  is  one  of 
the  music-makers  or  dreamers  of  dreams  of  whom 
O'Shaughnessy  wrote;  while  in  his  mysticism,  his  sym- 
bolism, and  the  general  quality  of  his  imagination  he 
invites  comparison  with  Maeterlinck.  In  the  midst  of  one 
of  the  greatest  political  problems  of  the  age,  he  has  held 
firmly  to  the  creation  of  beauty.  With  a  temperament  so 
subjective  he  is  naturally  more  lyrical  than  dramatic ;  but 
his  plays  are  not  only  fanciful  and  romantic  but  charac- 
terized by  much  clever  craftsmanship.  Outstanding  are 
The  Land  of  Heart's  Desire  (1894)  and  The  Countess 
Cathleen  (1899).  The  first  of  these  plays,  partly  in  prose 
and  partly  in  verse,  tells  the  story  of  a  young  bride  who 
grows  weary  of  her  monotonous  life  and  entreats  the  fairies 
to  release  her.  The  old  parents  tell  her  that  she  should 
listen  first  of  all  to  the  voice  of  duty,  and  the  priest  begs 
her  not  to  leave  her  faithful  young  husband.  The  fairy 
wins,  however,  and,  leaving  a  dead  wife  in  the  cottage, 
bears  away  the  living  bride  to  the  mystic  world.  The 
Countess  Cathleen  sets  forth  the  great  efforts  and  the 
sacrifice  of  the  Countess  in  behalf  of  the  starving  peasants, 
many  of  whom  sell  their  souls  for  food  to  the  demons  dis- 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA     233 

giiised  as  merchants.  The  play  is  full  of  supernaturalism 
and  symholism,  and  guardian  angels  save  the  soul  of  the 
Countess  at  the  end.  In  similar  vein^  but  of  even  more 
poetic  than  dramatic  quality,  are  Cathleen  ni  Hoolihan, 
The  Shadowy  Waters,  and  Deirdre,  all  embodying  the 
superstition,  the  fairy  lore,  and  the  lively  imagination  of 

Ireland. 

98.   John  Millington  Synge. — John  Millington  Synge 
(1871-1909)    was  one  of  the  most  promising  of  recent 
English  or  Irish  writers.     Especially  was  he  highly  en- 
dowed intellectually.     He  won  with  equal  facility  a  prize 
in  Hebrew   or   Irish   at   Trinity   College,   Dublin,   or   a 
scholarship  at  the  Koyal  Irish  Academy  of  Music.     x\s  a 
boy,  we  are  told,  ''  he  knew  the  note  and  plumage  of  every 
bird,  and  when  and  where  they  were  to  be  found.''     Eor 
years  he  wandered  about  the  Continent  gathering  impres- 
sions here  and  there  until  his  friend  Yeats  found  him  in 
France  and  induced  him  to  return  to  Ireland  and  write 
for  the  new  theatre.    Back  in  Dublin  he  never  mentioned 
politics,  he  read  no  newspapers,  and  very  little  current 
literature.     With  him,   however,  the  dramatic  exceeded 
the  lyrical  faculty.     He  wrote  only  six  short  plays,  all 
between  1903  and  1907 ;  but  the  very  first  of  these  showed 
that  he  had  come  at  once  into  full  possession  of  his  powers. 
From  the  beginning  his  style  was  stripped  of  needless 
verbiage  and  vibrant  with  emotion.     Riders  to  the  Sea, 
a  tragedy  in  one  act,  and  one  of  the  most  powerful  produc- 
tions  in  recent  dramatic  literature,   sets   forth  the  im- 
pressive sorrow  of  old  Maurya,  whose  husband  and  five 
sons  have  already  been  drowned,  and  who  now  sees  her 
last  son,  Bartley,  given  to  the  sea.     The  Playboy  of  the 
Western  World,  a  boisterous  and  fantastically  humorous 


234     A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DEAlilA 

play  in  three  acts,  is  concerned  with  the  real  awakening 
of  the  Playboy,  his  performing  of  wonderful  feats,  and  his 
ardent  love-making  to  the  maiden  Pegeen.     At  the  time 
of  his  death  Synge  was  giving  final  form  to  Deirdre  of  the 
Sorrows,  a  three-act  play  employing  a  theme  also  used  by 
Yeats  and  Eussell,  that  of  the  beautiful  princess  who,  after 
seven  years  of  perfect  union  with  her  lover,  when  he  was 
slain  went  forth  to  be  with  him  in  the  hereafter.     He 
was  a  true  dramatist  and  his  passing  was  an  inestimable 
loss  to  the  theatre  not  only  of  Ireland  but  of  the  world. 
99.    Other  Recent  Dramatists. — The  great  emphasis  on 
the  drama  within  the  last  generation  has  naturally  brought 
on  the  scene  numerous  writers,  some  of  whom  are  quite  as 
worthy  of  detailed  mention  as  those  that  have  been  con- 
sidered.   An  early  contemj^orary  of  Pinero  and  Jones  was 
Sydney  Grundy  (1848-1914),  an  honest  and  clever  crafts- 
man who  was  borne  hither   and   thither  by  the  moral, 
decadent,  and  technical  tendencies  of  his  day  and  who 
somehow  failed  to  live  up  to  early  expectations.     After 
much  adaptation  from  French  dramatists   he   produced 
such  plays  as  A  FooVs  Paradise  (1889)  and  Sowing  the 
Wind    (1893).      Another   earnest  worker   wiio   was   also 
alive  to  new  ideas  and  tendencies  but  who  failed  of  final 
achievement  was  Si.  Ji)hn  Hankin   (1860-1909),  repre- 
sented by  The  Tiuo  Mr.    Weatherhys   (1903),  The  Cas- 
silis  Engagement  (1907),  and  T'he  Last  of  the  De  MuU'ins 
(1908).     John  Oswald  France's  (1882 — )  first  awakened 
wide  interest  by  his  four-act  jjlay.  Change,  winner  in  the 
Welsh  Drama  Competition  in  1912.    Probably  most  repre- 
sentative of  the  younger  writers  of  the  Irish  National 
Theatre  is  St.  John  G.  Ervine  (1883 — ),  who  shows  un- 
usual mastery  of  his  craft  and  grasp  of  character,  as  u\ 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA     235 

Mixed  Marriage  (1911),  Ja7}^  Clegg  (1914),  and  John 
Ferguson  (1915).  John  Masefield  (1875 — )  entered  the 
field  of  the  drama  with  The  Tragedy  of  Nan  (1908),  while 
another  outstanding  poet  of  the  day,  John  Drinkwater 
(1882 — ),  has  recently  achieved  great  success  with  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  (1919).  Lord  Dunsany,  Arnold  Bennett, 
and  W.  Somerset  Maugham  also  have  high  rank  among 
living  English  dramatists. 

100.  Current  Tendencies. — It  is  evident  from  what  has 
been  said  that  the  decade  1880-1890  was  one  of  experi- 
mentation in  the  history  of  the  English  drama  and  the 
decade  1890-1900  one  of  ferment.  In  the  latter  period 
the  drama  assumed  new  importance  as  a  social  force,  and 
there  was  wide  discussion  of  the  mutual  obligation  of  the 
theatre  and  the  public.  About  the  year  1894  controversy 
raged  on  the  question  of  Ibsen  and  his  influence,  which  by 
many  conservative  and  strong  elements  was  considered 
unhealthy,  while  playwrights  and  patrons  of  the  theatre 
were  quite  determined  that  the  drama  should  l^e  free.  In 
the  same  year  in  which  this  discussion  was  uppermost  there 
developed  a  new  vogue  of  spectacle  and  melodrama,  closely 
associated  with  the  dramatization  of  popular  fiction,  which 
ran  directly  counter  to  the  more  intellectual  element?  of 
reform.  Itepresentative  productions  were  Trilby,  The 
Prisoner  of  Zenda,  The  Sign  of  the  Cross,  and  the  Ameri- 
can Ben-Hur,  which  for  more  than  a  decade  excelled  all 
other  productions  in  the  attracting  of  great  audiences. 
Closely  related  to  these  rom,antic  tendencies  in  the  earlier 
years  of  the  century  was  a  new  emphasis  on  the  old  moral- 
ity, represented  by  Everyman,  and  on  plays  based  on 
stories  from  the  Bible. 

Meanwhile  organization  went  forward.     We  have  al- 


236     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  DRAMA 

ready  remarked  the  Irish  National  Theatre.  In  1891  John 
T.  Grein  organized  the  Independent  Theatre,  which  ran 
for  seven  years  and  after  an  interval  was  succeeded  by  the 
Stage  Society,  incorporated  in  1904.  Since  1895  the 
Elizabethan  Stage  Society  has  also  conducted  its  activities, 
with  emphasis  on  the  representation  of  the  best  in  both 
English  and  continental  tradition.  To  such  sturdy  efforts 
as  these,  men  like  Shaw,  Galsworthy,  Barker,  and  Gordon 
Craig  have  in  one  way  or  another  given  of  their  talents. 
There  also  developed  a  new  interest  in  the  reading  of 
plays  in  printed  form  and  an  insistence  on  high  stand- 
ards of  criticism.  All  such  efforts  and  tendencies  were 
assisted  by  intercourse  with  America,  where  there  was  a 
veritable  renaissance.  Throughout  the  country  societies 
for  the  study  of  the  drama  were  formed,  educational  in- 
stitutions began  to  give  courses  in  the  composition  of 
plays,  and  such  organizations  as  the  Portmanteau  Theatre 
and  the  Washington  Square  Players  in  Xevv^  York  and 
the  Henry  Jewett  Players  in  Boston  insisted  on  high 
standards  in  a  day  when  the  stage  had  become  almost  hope- 
lessly commercialized. 

Just  on  the  eve  of  the  Great  War  the  drama  seemed 
uncertain  as  to  its  course.  The  year  1912,  for  instance, 
showed  tendencies  both  romantic  and  realistic,  as  in  Ed- 
ward Knoblock's  Kismet,  a  gorgeous  play  of  the  Orient, 
and,  on  the  other  hand.  Milestones,  written  by  Bennett  in 
collaboration  with  Knoblock;  and  the  next  year  there  was 
rather  frank  discussion  on  the  stage  of  some  unpleasant 
social  topics.  With  1914  came  at  once  the  depression 
caused  by  the  war,  and  the  beginning  of  the  great  develop- 
ment of  photo-plays.  Against  such  opposition  the  legiti- 
mate drama  struggled  with  only  a  slight  measure  of  sue- 


VICTORIAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  DRAMA    237 

cess;  and  within  the  next  five  years  the  foremost  play- 
wrights of  the  day,  with  the  notable  exception  of  Barrie, 
in  their  absorption  by  the  questions  of  the  hour,  almost 
ceased  to  write,  or  at  least  to  produce.  So-called  war  plays 
were  hurriedly  thrust  before  a  public  that  soon  tired  of 
them  in  the  desire  for  relief  from  the  strain ;  and  brilliant 
musical  comedies,  in  London  and  still  more  in  Xew  York, 
by  the  time  of  the  armistice  were  demanding  fabulous 
prices  for  admission.  Such  tendencies,  however,  could  not 
undo  all  of  the  constructive  work  of  the  last  three  decades. 
An  intelligent  and  a  growing  audience  was  seeking  more 
than  ever  the  best  that  the  theatre  had  to  offer,  in  the  small 
towns  and  villages  as  well  as  in  the  great  centers  of  cul- 
ture; and  now  that  the  "war  is  over,  and  now  that  it  has 
been  shown  that  even  the  moving-picture  can  not  wholly 
displace  the  spoken  drama,  we  may  indeed  hope  for  a  new 
inspiration  in  the  art  cultivated  by  Kean,  and  in  the 
heritage  and  culture  of  Shakespeare. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Texts. 

1 
2 


1.  Collections  of  Plays.  ^   ^.  .^     ,    a 

2.  Works  in  Series,  primarily  for  school  use;  Individual  Au- 

thors, etc. 

3.  Standard  of  Special  Editions. 
II.    Criticism. 

1.  General  Works. 

2.  Works  on  Special  Periods  or  Subjects. 

3.  The  Stage,  Dramatic  Technique,  and  the  Function  of  the 

Theatre. 

I.    TEXTS 
1.   COLLECTIONS  OF  PLAYS 

Manly,  John  Matthews:  Specimens  of  the  Pre-Shakesperean  Drama, 
2  vols,  (a  third  forthcoming).    Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston,  1897. 

Pollard  A.  W.:  English  Miracle  Plays,  Moralities,  and  Interludes 
(revised).  Oxford  University  Press,  London,  New  York,  etc., 
1914 

Cunliflfe,  J.  W.:  Early  English  Classical  Tragedies.  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press,  London,  New  York,  etc.,  1912.  ,       ,    , 

Neilson,  William  Allan:  The  Chief  Elizabethan  Dramatists  (exclud- 
ino-' Shakespeare ) .    Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1911. 

Gayley!  Charles  M. :  Representative  English  Comedies.  Vol.  I.  From 
the  Beginnings  to  Shakespeare.  Vol.  IL  The  Later  Contem- 
poraries of  Shakespeare:  Ben  Jonson  and  Others.  Vol.  Ill-  The 
Later  Contemporaries  of  Shakespeare:  Fletcher  and  Others. 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1903. 

Tupper  F.,  and  Tupper,  J.  W. :  Representative  English  Dramas  from 
Dryden  to  Sheridan.  Oxford  University  Press,  London,  New 
York  etc    1914. 

Tatlock.  John's.  P.,  and  Martin,  Robert  G.:  Representative  English 
Plays.    The  Century  Co.,  New  York,  1916.  ^       ,. 

Matthews,  Brander:  The  Chief  European  Dramatists.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1916. 

Dickinson,  Thomas  H.:  The  Chief  Contemporary  Dramatists. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1915. 

See  also  in  Ever\Tnan's  Library  (E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  New  York) 
Everyman,  and  other  Interludes,  edited  by  Ernest  Rhys;  Minor 
Elizabethan  Drama  (2  vols.),  edited  by  Ashley  H.  Thorndike; 
and  A  Volume  of  Restoration  Plays,  edited  by  Edmund  Gosse. 

28d 


240  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

For  further  and  more  advanced  study  in  early  drama  see  York 
Plays,  edited  by  L.  Toulmin  Smith,  Oxford  University  Press, 
London,  New  York,  etc.,  1885;  English  Nativity  Plays,  edited  by 
Samuel  B.  Hemingway,  Yale  Studies  in  English,  No.  38,  Henry 
Holt  &  Co.,  New  York,  1909 ;  and  in  the  Publications  of  the  Early 
English  Text  Society,  Oxford  University  Press,  Digby  Plays, 
edited  by  F.  J.  Furnivall,  1896,  and  Townelev  Mysteries,  edited 
by  G.  England  and  A.  W.  Pollard,  1897.  For 'old  plays  not 
otherwise  accessible,  see  A  Collection  of  Old  English  Plays,  edited 
by  A.  H.  Bullen,  London,  1882-85,  4  vols.,  new  series  3  vols., 
1887-90;  and  note  R.  Dodsley's  famous  Select  Collection  of  Old 
Plays,  1744  (4th  edition,  15  vols.,  edited  by  W.  C.  Hazlitt,  Lon- 
don, 1874-76). 


2.    WORKS  IN  SERIES,  PRIMARILY  FOR  SCHOOL  USE; 
INDIVIDUAL  AUTHORS,  ETC. 

Meemaid  Series  ("The  best  plays  of  the  Old  Dramatists").  Im- 
portations of  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York.  (This  has 
long  been  a  well  known  series  for  first  reading,  and  it  has  de- 
served the  place  that  it  has  held.  In  recent  years,  however,  it 
has  been  rivaled  and  sometimes  excelled  by  the  series  that 
follow.) 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  with  introduction  and  notes  by  J.  Strachey. 
Plays:  Vol.  I,  The  Maid's  Tragedy,  Philaster,  The  Wild  Goose 
Chase,  Thierry  and  Theodoret,  The  Knight  of  the  Burning 
Pestle;  Vol.  II,  A  King  and  No  King,  Bonduca,  The  Spanish 
Curate,  The  Faithful  Shepherdess,  Valentinian. 

Chapman,  George,  edited  with  introduction  and  notes  by  W.  L. 
Phelps.  Plays:  All  Fools,  Bussy  D'Ambois,  The  Revenge  of 
Bussy  D'Ambois,  The  Conspiracy  of  Charles,  Duke  of  Byron;  The 
Tragedy  of  Charles,  Duke  of  Byron. 

Congreve,  William,  edited  and  annotated  by  A.  C.  Ewald.  Plays: 
The  Old  Bachelor,  The  Double  Dealer,  Love  for  Love,  The  Way 
of  the  V/orld,  The  Mourning  Bride. 

Dekker,  Thomas,  with  essay  and  notes  by  Ernest  Rhys.  Plays: 
The  Shoemaker's  Holiday,  The  Honest  Whore,  Old  Fortunatus, 
The  Witch  of  Edmonton. 

Dryden,  John,  edited  wdth  introduction  and  notes  by  George 
Saintsbury.  Plays:  Vol.  I,  Almanzor  and  Almahide,  or  The 
Conquest  of  Granada;  Marriage  fi.  la  Mode,  Aureng-Zebe;  Vol. 
II,  All  for  Love,  The  Spanish  Friar,  Albion  and  Albanus,  Don 
Sebastian. 

Farquhar,  George,  with  introduction  by  William  Archer.  Plays: 
The  Constant  Couple,  The  Twin-Rivals,  The  Recruiting  Officer, 
The  Beaux'  Stratagem. 

Ford,  John,  edited  by  Havelock  Ellis.  Plays:  The  Lover's  Melan- 
choly, The  Broken  Heart,  Love's  Sacrifice,  Perkin  Warbeck. 

Greene,  Robert,  with  notes  and  introduction  by  T.  H.  Dickinson. 
Plays:  Alphonsus,  King  of  Arragonj  A  Looking-glass  for  Lon- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  241 

don  and  England,  Orlando  Furioso,  Friar  Bacon  and  Friar 
Bungay,  James  the  Fourth,  George  a-Greene,  the  Pinner  of 
Wakefield. 

Heywood,  Thomas,  edited  by  A.  W.  Verity,  with  introduction  by 
J.  A.  Symonds.  Plays:  A  Woman  Killed  with  Kindness,  The 
Fair  Maid  of  the  West,  The  English  Traveller,  The  Wise 
Woman  of  Hogsdon,  The  Rape  of  Lucrece. 

Jonson,  Ben,  edited  with  introduction  and  notes  by  B.  Nicholson 
and  C.  H.  Herford,  Plays:  Vol.  I,  Every  Man  in  his  Humour, 
Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,  The  Poetaster;  Vol.  II,  Bar- 
tholomew Fair,  Cynthia's  Revels,  Sejanus,  his  Fall;  Vol.  Ill, 
Volpone,  or  The  Fox;  Epicoene,  or  The  Silent  Woman;  The 
Alchemist. 

Marlowe,  Christopher,  edited  with  critical  memoir  and  notes  by 
Havelock  Ellis.  Plays:  Tamberlaine  the  Great,  2  parts.  The 
Tragical  History  of  Dr.  Faustus,  The  Jew  of  Malta,  Edward  the 
Second. 

Massinger,  Philip,  edited  with  critical  and  biographical  essay  and 
notes  by  Arthur  Symons.  Plays:  Vol.  I,  The  Duke  of  Milan, 
A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts,  The  Great  Duke  of  Florence, 
The  Maid  of  Honour,  The  City  Madam;  Vol.  II,  The  Roman 
Actor,  The  Fatal  Dowry,  The  Guardian,  The  Virgin  Martyr, 
Believe  as  You  List. 

Middleton,  Thomas,  with  an  introduction  by  Algernon  Charles 
Swinburne.  Plays:  Vol.  I,  A  Trick  to  Catch  the  Old  One,  The 
Changeling,  A  Chaste  Maid  in  Cheapside,  Women  Beware 
Women,  The  Spanish  Gipsy;  Vol.  II,  The  Roaring  Girl,  The 
V/itch,  A  Fair  Quarrel,  The  Mayor  of  Queensborough,  The 
Widow. 

Otway,  Thomas,  with  introduction  and  notes  by  Roden  Noel. 
Plays:  Don  Carlos,  The  Orphan,  The  Soldier's  Fortune,  Venice 
Preserved. 

Shadwell,  Thomas,  edited  with  introduction  and  notes  by  George 
Saintsbury.  Plays:  The  Sullen  Lovers,  A  True  Widow,  The 
Squire  of  Alsatia,  Bury  Fair. 

Shirley,  James,  with  introduction  by  Edmund  Gosse.  Plays:  The 
Witty  Fair  One,  The  Traitor,  Hyde  Park,  The  Lady  of  Pleasure, 
The  Cardinal,  The  Triumph  of  Peace. 

Steele,  Richard,  edited  with  introduction  and  notes  by  G.  A. 
Aitkin.  Plays:  The  Funeral,  The  Lying  Lover,  The  Tender 
Husband,  The  Conscious  Lovers,  The  School  of  Action,  The  Gen- 
tleman. 

Vanbrugh,  John,  edited  with  introduction  and  notes  bv  A,  E.  H. 
Swain.  Plays:  The  Relapse,  The  Provoked  Wife,  The  Confed- 
eracy, A  Journey  to  London. 

Webster  and  Tourneur,  with  an  introduction  and  notes  by  John 
Addington  Symonds.  Plays:  The  White  Devil,  The  Duchess  of 
Malfi,  The  Atheist's  Tragedy,  The  Revenger's  Tragedy. 

Wycherley,  William,  edited  with  introduction  and  notes  by  W.  C. 
Ward.  Plays:  Love  in  a  Wood,  The  Gentleman  Dancing  Master, 
The  Country  Wife,  The  Plain  Dealer. 


242  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Belles -Lettres  Series,  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  Boston,  New  York,  etc. 

Division  of  the  Drama  under  the  general  editorship  of  George 

Pierce  Baker. 
Gascoigne:  Supposes  and  Joeasta,  edited  by  John  W.  Cunliife. 
Beaumont:  A  King  and  No  King  and  The  Knight  of  the  Burning 

Pestle,  edited  by  Raymond  M.  Alden, 
Beaiunont  and  Fletcher :  The  Maid's  Tragedy  and  Philaster,  edited 

by  Ashley  H,  Thorndike. 
Chapman:  All  Fools  and  The  Gentleman  Usher,  edited  by  Thomas 

M.  Parrott. 
Chapman:  Bussy  D'Ambois  and  The  Revenge  of  Bussy  D'Ambois, 

edited  by  Frederick  S,  Boas. 
Ford:    'Tis   Pity   and   The   Broken   Heart,    edited   by   Stuart   P. 

Sherman. 
HeyM'ood:  A  Woman  Killed  with  Kindness  and  The  Fair  Maid  of 

the  West,  edited  by  Katherine  Lee  Bates. 
Jonson:    Eastward  Hoe  and  The  Alchemist,  edited  by  Felix  E. 

Schelling. 
Jonson:  Sejanus,  edited  by  W.  D.  Briggs. 
Jonson:   Poetaster,  and  Dekkar:    Satiromastix,  edited  by  Josiah 

H.  Penniman. 
Middleton  and  Rowley :  The  Spanish  Gipsy  and  All's  Lost  by  Lust, 

edited  by  Edgar  C.  Morris. 
Webster:  The  White  Devil  and  The  Duchess  of  Malfy,  edited  by 

Martin  W.  Sampson. 
Davenant:  Love  and  Honour,  and  The  Siege  of  Rhodes,  edited  by 

J.  W.  Tupper. 
Dryden:  All  for  Love  and  The  Spanish  Friar,  edited  by  William 

Strunk,  Jr. 
Farquhar :  The  Recruiting  OflBcer  and  The  Beaux'  Stratagem,  edited 

by  Louis  A.  Strauss. 
Otway:    The  Orphan  and  Venice  Preserved,  edited   by  Charles   F. 

McClumpha. 
Wycherley:   The  Country  Wife  and  The  Plain  Dealer,  edited  by 

George  B.  Churchill. 
Goldsmith:    The  Good-Natured  Man  and  She  Stoops  to  Conquer, 

edited  by  Austin  Dobson. 
Lillo:  The  London  Merchant  and  Fatal  Curiosity,  edited  by  A.  W. 

Ward. 
Rowe :  The  Fair  Penitent  and  Jane  Shore,  edited  by  Sophia  Chantal 

Hart. 
Browning:  A  Blot  in  the  'Scutcheon,  Colombe's  Birthday,  A  Sours 

Tragedy,  and  In  a  Balcony,  edited  by  Arlo  Bates. 
Robertson:  Society,  and  Caste,  edited  by  T.  Edgar  Pemberton. 
Shelley:  The  Cenci,  edited  by  George  E.  Woodberry. 
Swinburne:  Mary  Stuart,  edited  by  William  Morton  Payne.  / 


Mastebpieces  of  the  English  Dbama,  under  the  general  editorship 
of  Felix  E.  Schelling.    American  Book  Co.,  New  York. 
Christopher  Marlowe,  with  an  introduction  by  William  L.  Phelps. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  243 

Plays:  Tamberlaine   (both  parts),  Doctor  Faustus,  The  Jew  of 

Malta,  Edward  the  Second. 
George  Chapman,  with  an  introduction  by  Havelock  Ellis.    Plays: 

All  Fools,  Eastward  Ho,  Bussy  D'Ambois,  The  Revenge  of  Bussy 

D'Ambois. 
Francis  Beaumont  and  John  Fletcher,  edited  by  Felix  E.  Schelling. 

Plays:    The    Maid's    Tragedy,    Philaster,    The    Faithful    Shep- 
herdess, Bonduca. 
Ben  Jonson,  with  an  introduction  by  Ernest  Rhys.     Plays:  Every 

Man  in  his  Humour,  Volpone,  Epicoene,  The  Alchemist. 
Thomas  Middleton,  edited  by  Martin  W.  Sampson.    Plays :  Michael- 
mas Term,  A  Trick  to  Catch  the  Old  One,  A  Fair  Quarrel,  The 

Changeling. 
Philip    Massinger,    edited   by   Lucius    A.    Sherman.      Plays:    The 

Roman  Actor,  The  Maid  of  Honour,  A  Xew  Way  to  Pay  Old 

Debts,  Believe  as  You  List. 
John  Webster  and  Cvril  Tourneur,  with  an  introduction  by  Ashley 

H.  Thorndike.     Plays:  The  White  Devil,  The  Duchess  of  Malfi, 

Appius  and  Virginia — The  Revenger's  Tragedy. 
William    Congreve,    with    an    introduction    by    William    Archer. 

Plays:    The   Double-Dealer,   The   Way  of   the   World,   Love   for 

Love,  The  Mourning  Bride. 
Oliver  Goldsmith  and  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan,  edited  by  Isaac 

N.   Demmon.     Plays:    The  Good-Natured   Man,    She   Stoops   to 

Conquer — The  Rivals,  The  School  for  Scandal,  The  Critic. 

Riverside  Liteeatuee  Seeies,  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston.  (Some 
of  the  numbers  here  listed  have  unusually  excellent  introductions. 
All  are  inexpensive.) 

The  Second  Shepherd's  Play,  Everyman,  and  other  Early  Plays, 
translated  and  edited  by  Clarence  Griffin  Child. 

Nicholas  Udall's  Ralph  Roister  Doister,  edited  by  Clarence  Griffin 
Child. 

Oliver  Goldsmith's  The  Good-Natured  Man  and  She  Stoops  to  Con- 
quer, edited  by  Thomas  H.  Dickinson. 

Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan's  The  Rivals,  edited  by  Josiah  Q. 
Adams,  Jr. 

Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan's  The  School  for  Scandal,  edited  by 
Hanson  Hart  Webster. 

TuDOE  Shakespeaee,  a  series  of  single  volumes  of  the  plays,  using 
the  Neilson  text,  and  issued  under  the  general  editorship  of 
William  Allan  Neilson  and  Ashley  Horace  Thorndike.  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York. 

Yale  Shakespeaee,  single  volumes  issued  under  the  general  super- 
vision of  a  committee  consisting  of  Wilbur  Lucius  Cross,  Tucker 
Brooke,  and  Willard  Higley  Durham.  Yale  University  Press, 
New  Haven  and  New  York. 

Abden  Shakespeaee,  single  volumes  emphasizing  literary  more  than 
linguistic  features,  issued  under  the  general  editorship  of  C.  H, 
Herford.    D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  Boston,  New  York,  etc, 


244  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

New  Hudson  Shakespeaee,  with  introduction  and  notes  by  Henry 

N.  Hudson.    Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston,  New  York,  etc. 
Rolfe's  New  Edition  of  Shakespeaee,  edited  by  William  J.  Rolfe. 

American  Book  Co.,  New  York. 
Selected  Dramas  of  John  Drvden,  edited  with  an  introduction  by 

George  R.  Noyes.     Scott,  Foresman  &  Co.,  Chicago,  1910. 
The  Major  Dramas  of  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan,   edited  with  an 

introduction  by  George  H.  Nettleton,  Athenaeum  Press  Series, 

Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston,  New  York,  etc.,  1906. 


3.    ST.AN"DARD  AND  SPECIAL  EDITIONS 

(Only  outstanding  works  are  here  mentioned.  For  more  extended 
bibliography  see  Cambridge  History  of  English  Literature,  especially 
Vols.  V  and  VI. ) 

The  Complete  Works  of  John  Lyly,  now  for  the  first  time  collected 
and  edited  from  the  earliest  quartos  with  Life,  Biography,  Es- 
says, Notes,  and  Index,  by  R.  Warwick  Bond.  3  yols.  Oxiord. 
University  Press,  London,  New  Y'ork,  etc.,  1902. 

The  Works  of  George  Peele,  edited  by  A.  H.  BuUen.  2  vols.  Oxford 
University  Press,  London,  New  Y'ork,  etc.,  1888. 

The  Plays  and  Poems  of  Robert  Greene,  edited  by  J.  Churton  Collins. 
2  vols.     Oxford  University  Press,  London,  New  Y^'ork,  etc.,  1905. 

The  Works  of  Thomas  Kyd,  edited  from  the  original  texts  with 
introduction,  notes,  and  fac-similes.  Oxford  University  Press, 
London,  New  Y'ork,  etc.,  1901. 

The  Works  of  Christopher  Marlowe,  edited  by  C.  E.  Tucker  Brooke. 
Oxford  University  Press,  London,  New  York,  etc.,  1910. 

The  Works  of  Christopher  Marlowe,  edited  by  A.  H.  BuUen.  3  vols. 
J.  C.  Nimmo,  London,  1885. 

The  Works  of  Christopher  Marlowe,  edited  by  F.  Cunningham. 
Chatto  &  Windus,  London,  1902. 

The  Complete  Dramatic  and  Poetic  Works  of  William  Shakespeare, 
edited  by  William  Allan  Neilson.  Cambridge  Edition.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  New  York,  etc.,  1906. 

The  Complete  Works  of  William  Shakespeare  (the  "Oxford  Shake- 
speare " ) ,  edited  by  W.  J.  Craig.  Oxford  University  Press,  Lon- 
don, New  York,  etc.,  1916. 

The  \^'orks  of  William  Shakespeare,  edited  by  A.  H.  Bullen  (10  vols., 
limited  edition)  and  issued  at  The  Shakespeare  Head  Press, 
Stratford-on-Avon,  1904-7. 

The  Plays  of  William  Shakespeare.  Varionmi  Edition,  edited  by  H. 
H.  Wrness.  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  Philadelphia.  (These  note- 
worthy volumes,  a  monument  to  American  scholarship,  began  to 
be  issued  in  1869,  and  on  the  death  of  the  elder  Dr.  Furness  in 
1912  the  series  was  continued  by  his  son,  H.  H.  Furness.) 

The  Oxford  Shakespeare  Apocrypha  (being  fourteen  plays  at  some 
time  attributed  to  Shakespeare),  edited,  with  introduction, 
notes  and  bibliography,  by  C.  F.  Tucker  Brooke.  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press,  London,  New  York,  etc.,  1908. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  245 

The  Oxford  editions  of  Lyly,  Greene,  and  Kyd  set  the  standard  for 
recent  editing.  For  the  most  part  the  work  of  men  later  than 
Shakespeare  has  not  recently  been  reviewed  and  reissued  in  such 
excellent  form.  Very  important  work  is  being  done,  however; 
note,  for  instance,  The  Works  of  George  Chapman,  3  vols., 
edited  chiefly  by  R.  H.  Shepherd,  Oxford  University  Press,  and 
The  Works  of  Thomas  Middleton,  8  vols.,  edited  by  A.  H.  Bullen, 
London,  1885-86.  About  the  middle  of  the  last  century  out- 
standing was  the  work  of  the  great  editor,  Alexander  Dyce,  who 
brought  out  editions  of  most  of  the  post-Shakespearean  dram- 
atists; and,  in  general,  importance  attaches  to  the  works  of 
Heywood,  Dekker,  etc.,  in  Pearson's  Reprints,  and  to  Sir  Walter 
Scott's  monumental  edition  of  Dryden,  18  vols.,  Edinburgh, 
1808,  revised  and  corrected  by  Saintsbury,  Edinburgh,  1882. 
Within  recent  years  very  special  importance  has  attached  to  a 
series  of  studies  and  editions  of  the  different  plays  of  Jonson 
published  by  the  Yale  University  Press. 


II.    CRITICISM 

1.    GENERAL  WORKS 

Ward,  A.  W.,  and  Waller,  A.  R.  (General  Editors)  :  The  Cambridge 
History  of  English  Literature.  14  vols.  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 
New  York,  1907-17.  (Vols.  V  and  VI  are  wholly  devoted  to  the 
early  and  Elizabethan  drama;  special  articles  are  in  later 
volumes. ) 

Ward,  Adolphus  W. :  History  of  English  Dramatic  Literature  to  the 
Death  of  Queen  Anne.  3  vols.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  London,  New 
York,  etc.,  1899. 

Schelling,  Felix  E. :  English  Drama.  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  New  York, 
1914. 

Thorndike,  Ashley  H. :  Tragedy.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  New 
York,  etc.,  1908. 


2.  WORKS  ON  SPECIAL  PERIODS  OR  SUBJECTS 

(Here  more  than  ever  the  bibliography  must  be  selective,  with 
emphasis  on  such  books  as  are  most  important  in  connection  with  a 
general  view  of  the  subject.  Within  recent  years  many  doctor's 
theses  have  been  written  on  special  topics.  Of  these,  however,  only 
those  are  here  listed  that  are  mentioned  in  the  footnotes  or  that 
otherwise  have  an  interest  not  too  special  or  technical.  It  will  be 
observed  that  for  convenience  the  order  is  not  "alphabetic-al  or  ac- 
cording to  date  of  publication,  but  according  to  the  general  history 
of  the  subject.  The  list  thus  begins  with  the  mediaeval  drama  and 
closes  with  that  of  the  present  day.) 

Chambers,  E.  K.:  The  Mediaeval  Stage.    2  vols.     Oxford  Univei^ity 
Press,  London,  New  York,  etc.,  1903. 


246  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bates,  Katherine  L.:  The  English  Religious  Drama.    The  Macmillan 

Co.,  New  York,  1893. 
Mackenzie,  William  Roy:  The  English  Moralities  from  the  Point  of 

View  of  Allegory.     Harvard  Studies  in  English,  Vol.  2.     Ginn 

&  Co.,  Boston,  1914. 
Wynne,  Arnold:  The  Growth  of  English  Drama.     Oxford  University 

Press,  London,  New  York,  etc.,  1914.     (This  book  considers  the 

subject  generally  from  the  beginnings  through  the  earlier  con- 
temporaries of  Shakespeare.) 
Boas,  F.  S. :  University  Drama  in  the  Tudor  Age.    Oxford  University 

Press,  London,  New  Y''ork,  etc.,  1914. 
Cunliffe,  J.  W. :   The  Influence  of  Seneca  on  Elizabethan  Tragedy. 

G.  E.  Stechert  &  Co.,  New  York,  1907. 
Cunliffe,  J.  W. :  The  Influence  of  Italian  on  Early  Elizabethan  Drama. 

Modern  Philology,  1907,  Vol.  IV,  597-604. 
Wallace,    Malcolm    V/.:    The   Influence   of   Plautus   on   the   English 

Dramatic   Literature  of  the  Sixteenth  Century.     Published  as 

introduction  to  The  Birthe  of  Hercules.    Scott,  Foresman  &  Co. 

Chicago,  1903. 
Saintsbury,  George:   Historv  of  Elizabethan  Literature.     The  Mac 

millan  Co.,  New  York,  1906. 
Schelling,  F.  E.:  The  Life  and  Writings  of  George  Gascoigne.    Pub 

lications  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  1894. 
Schelling,  F.  E.:  The  English  Chronicle  Play.     The  Macmillan  Co. 

New  York,  1902. 
Schelling,  F.  E. :  Elizabethan  Drama.    2  vols.    Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Boston,  New  York,  etc.,  1908. 
Brooke,  C.  F.  Tucker:    The  Tudor  Drama.     Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Boston,  New  York,  etc.,  1911. 
Gildersleeve,    Virginia    Crocheron:    Government    Regulation    of    the 

Elizabethan  Drama.    Columbia  University  Press,  1908. 
Verity,   A.    W. :    Marlowe's   Influence   on   Shakespeare.      Cambridge, 

1886  (G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York). 
Ingram,    J.    H. :     Christopher    Marlowe    and    his    Associates.     G. 

Richards,  London,  1904. 
Symonds,  J.  A.:   Shakespeare's  Predecessors  in  the  English  Drama. 

1884,  revised  1900. 
Boas,  F.  S.:   Shakespeare  and  his  Predecessors.     Charles  Scribner's 

Sons,  New  York,  1895. 
Boswell-Stcne,  W.  G. :    Shakespeare's  Holinshed;   the  Chronicle  and 

the  Historical  Plays  Compared.    Duffield  &  Co.,  New  York,  1907. 
Brooke,  C.  F.  Tucker:    Shakespeare's  Plutarch.     2  vols.     Chatto  & 

Windus,  London,  1909. 
Seccombe,  Thomas,  and  Allen,  J.  W. :  The  Age  of  Shakespeare,  Vol. 

II  (Drama).     George  Bell  &  Sons,  London,  1893. 
MacCrackcn,  H,  N.,  Pierce,  F.  E.,  and  Durham,  W.  H. :   An  Intro- 
duction to  Shakespeare.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1910. 
Neilson,  William  Allen,  and  Thorndike,  Ashley  H. :  The  Facts  about 

Shakespeare.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1913. 
Lee,  Sir  Sydney:   A  Life  of  William  Shakespeare.     The  Macmillan 

Co.,  New  York  and  London,   1910.      (Several  earlier  editions; 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  247 

also  the  whole  abridged  for  students  as  "  Shakespeare's  Life  and 

Work.") 
Dowden,  Edward :  Shakspere :  A  Critical  Study  of  his  Mind  and  Art. 

Harper  Bros.,  New  York,  1874,  3rd  ed.  1881. 
Wendell,    Barrett:    William    Shakspere.     Charles    Scribner's    Sons, 

New  York,  1894. 
Mabie,  Hamilton  W.:    William   Shakespeare,   Poet,  Dramatist,  and 

Man.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1900. 
Moulton,  R.  G. :    Shakespeare  as  a  Dramatic  Artist.     Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press,  London,  New  York,  etc.,  3rd  ed.  1897. 
Baker,    George    Pierce:     The    Development    of    Shakespeare    as    a 

Dramatist.    The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1907. 
Hazlitt,  William:  Characters  of  Shakespeare's  Plays  (numerous  edi- 
tions since  1817). 
Jameson,  Mrs.  Anna:  Characteristics  of  Women    (otherwise  known 

as  "Shakespeare's  Heroines")    (numerous  editions  since  1832). 
Kittredge,    George    Lyman:    Shakspere:    An    address    delivered    on 

April  23,  1916,  in  Sanders  Theatre.    Harvard  University  Press, 

Cambridge,  1916. 
Lowell,   James   Russell:    The   Old   English   Dramatists.     Houghton 

Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1892,  rev.  1897. 
Kerr,  Mina:  Influence  of  Ben  Jonson  on  English  Comedy,  1698-1642. 

D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1912. 
Small,  Roscoe  Addison:  The  Stage-Quarrel  between  Ben  Jonson  and 

the  So-Called  Poetasters.    Breslau,  1899. 
Penniman,   Josiah  H.:    The   War  of  the  Theatres.     University   of 

Pennsylvania  Publications,  Series  In  Philology,  English  Litera- 
ture, and  Archaeology,  Vol.  4,  No.  3,  1897. 
Brooke,  Rupert:  John  Webster  and  the  Elizabethan  Drama.     John 

Lane  Co.,  New  York,  1916. 
Thompson,  Elbert  N.  S.:  The  Controversy  between  the  Puritans  and 

the  Stage.    Yale  Studies  in  English,  No.  20.    Henry  Holt  &  Co., 

New  York,  1903. 
Nettleton,  George  Henry:    English  Drama  of  the  Restoration  and 

Eighteenth    Century    (1642-1780).      The    Macmillan   Co.,    New 

York,  1914. 
Miles,  Dudley  H.:  The  Influence  of  Moliere  on  Restoration  Comedy. 

Columbia  University  Press,  New  York,  1910. 
Chase,  Lewis  Nathaniel:  The  English  Heroic  Play.     Columbia  Uni- 
versity Press,  New  York,  1913. 
Wright,  Rose  Abel:  The  Political  Play  of  the  Restoration.    Printed 

by  A.  E.  Veateh,  Montesano,  Wash.,  1916. 
Garnett,  R.:  The  Age  of  Dryden.    George  Bell  &  Sons,  London,  1901. 
Dennis,  John:  The  Age  of  Pope.     George  Bell  &  Sons,  London,  1901. 
Bernbaum,  Ernest:  The  Drama  of  Sensibility.     Harvard  Studies  in 

English,  Vol.  3.    Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston,  1915. 
Hillhouse,  James  T.:    The  Tragedy  of  Tragedies,  a  Dramatic  Bur- 

lesque  by  Henry  Fielding,  edited  with  introduction  and  not«8. 

Yale  University  Press,  New  Haven,  1918. 
Gipson,  Alice  Edna:  John  Home:  A  Study  of  his  Life  and  Works. 

The  Caxton  Printers,  Caldwell,  Id.,  1917. 


248  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Seccombe,  Thomas:  The  Age  of  Johnson.  George  Bell  &  Sons,  Lon- 
don, 1900. 

Marks,  Jeannette  Augusta:  English  Pastoral  Drama  from  the 
Restoration  to  the  date  of  the  Publication  of  the  "  Lyrical 
Ballads,"  1660-1798.    Methuen  &  Co.,  London,  1908. 

Chew,  Samuel  C:  The  Relation  of  Lord  Byron  to  the  Drama  of  the 
Romantic  Period.  Johns  Hopkins  University  Press,  Baltimore, 
1914. 

Dickinson,  Thomas  H.:  The  Contemporary  Drama  of  England. 
Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  Boston,  1917. 

Boyd,  Ernest  A.:  The  Contemporary  Drama  of  Ireland.  Little, 
Brown  &  Co.,  Boston,  1917. 

Franc,  Miriam  A.:  Ibsen  in  England.  The  Four  Seas  Co.,  Boston, 
1919. 

Hale,  E.  E.:  Dramatists  of  To-Day.    H.  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York,  1911. 

Howe,  P.  P.:  Dramatic  Portraits.  Mitchell  Kennerlev,  New  York, 
1913. 

Chandler,  Frank  W.:  Aspects  of  Modern  Drama.  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York,  1914. 

Andrews,  Charlton:  The  Drama  To-Day.  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co., 
Philadelphia,  1913. 

Phelps,  William  Lyon:  Essays  on  Modern  Dramatists.  The  Mac- 
millan Co.,  New  York,  1921. 


3.   THE  STAGE,  DRAMATIC  TECHNIQUE,  AND  THE 
FL^NCTION  OF  THE  THEATRE 

Hazlitt,  W.  C. :  The  English  Drama  and  Stage  under  the  Tudor  and 

Stuart  Princes,  1543-1664   (illustrated  by  a  series  of  documents, 

treatises,    and    poems).      Printed    for    the    Roxburghe    Library, 

1869. 
Thorndike,  Ashley  H. :   Shakespeare's  Theater.     The  Macmillan  Co., 

New  York,  1916. 
Adams,  Joseph  Quincy :  Shakespearean  Playhouses.    Houghton  Mifflin 

Co.,  Boston,  New  York,  etc.,  1917. 
Lee,    Sir    Sidney:     Shakespeare    and    the    Modern    Stage.     Charles 

Scribner's  »Sons..  New  York,  1906. 
Woodbridge,   Elizabeth    (Mrs.   Morris):    The  Drama:    its  Law  and 

Technique.     Lamson,   Wolffe  &   Co.,   Boston,    1898    (Allyn  and 

Bacon,  New  York). 
Mackaye,  Percy:  The  Playhouse  and  the  Play.    The  Macmillan  Co., 

New  York,  1909. 
Matthews,  Brander:  A  Study  of  the  Drama.     Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 

Boston,  New  York,  etc.,*1910. 
Matthews,  Brander:  A  Book  about  the  Theatre.     Charles  Scribner^s 

Sons,  New  York,  1916. 
Archer,  William:  Play-Making:  A  Manual  of  Craftsmanship.     Small, 

Maynard  &  Co.,  Boston,  1912. 
Burton,  Richard:    How  to  See  a  Plav.     The  Macmillan  Co..  New 

York,  1914. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  g49 

Hamilton,  Clayton:  Problems  of  the  Playwright.    Henry  Holt  &  Co., 

New  York,  1917. 
Clark,    Barrett    H.     (editor)  :    European    Theories    of    the    Drama. 

Stewart  &  Kidd  Co.,  Cincinnati,  1918. 
Baker,  George  Pierce:   Dramatic  Technique.     Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 

Boston,  New  York,  etc.,  1919. 
Spingarn,  J.  E.:  Creative  Criticism.     Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York, 

1917. 
Odell,  George  C.  D. :  Shakespeare  from  Betterton  to  Irving.     2  volg. 

Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  1920. 


INDEX 


Abraham  and  Isaac,  9 

Abraham  Lincoln,  235 

Actresses,  introduction  of,  125, 
127 

Addison,  Joseph,  145,  156-158 

Adelaide,  or  The  Emigrants,  202 

Admirable  Crichton,  The,  226- 
227 

^stheticism,  217-218,  220 

Agamemnon,  163 

Agis,   171 

Albion  Queens,  The,  142 

Alchemist,  The,  95 

Alfred,  Masque  of,  163,  170 

All  for  Love,  135-136,  138 

AlVs  Lost  by  Lust,  112 

AlVs  Well  That  Ends  Well,  60,  75 

Alphonsus,  King  of  Arragon,  48 

Androcles  and  the  Lion,  226 

Anne  Boleyn,  202 

Antonio  and  Mellida,  101 

Antonio's  Revenge,  101 

Antony  and  Cleopatra,  60,  80-81, 
84,  136 

Appius  and  Virginia  (R.  B.'s),  29 

Appius  and  Virginia  (Web- 
ster's), 110 

Apostate,  The,  201 

Arden  of  Feversham,  86 

Armageddon,  229 

Arms  and  the  Man,  225 

Arrah-na-pogue,  212 

Arraignment  of  Paris,  The,  45-46, 
47 

As  You  Like  It,  48,  60,  61,  72-73 

Atheist's  Tragedy,  The,  111 

Auchindrane,  198 

Aureng-Zebe,  135 


Baillie,  Joanna,   199-200 
Bale,  John,  32 
3allad-opera,  164 
v-nim,  John,  202 
h  nks,  John,  142 


251 


Barker,  Granville,  230,  236 
Barnwell,  George,   173,   175    (see 

The    London    Merchant,     165- 

166) 
Barrie,  James  Matthew,  226-227, 

230,  237 
Bartholomew  Fair,  96-97 
Battle  of  Hexham,  The,  192 
Beaumont,    Francis,    81-82,    90, 

104-108,  117,  129,  174,  196 
Beaux'  Stratagem,  The,  153 
Becket,  207,  209 
Beddoes,  Thomas  Lovell,  201 
Beggar's    Daughter    of    Bethnel 

Green,  The,  204 
Beggar's  Opera,  The,  164,  186 
Believe  as  You  List,  115-116 
Bellamira,  or  The  Fall  of  Tunis, 

201 
Belle's  Stratagem,  The,  183,  191 
Belshazzar,  202 
Ben-Hur,  235 
Bennett,  Arnold,  235,  236 
Bertram,    or   The   Castle   of   St. 

Aldobrond,  202 
Bickerstaff,  Isaac,  170 
Birth  of  Merlin,  The,  86 
Blood,    so-called   tragedy   of,   52, 

64,  77 
Blot  in  the  'Scutcheon,  A,  205- 

206 
Bonduca,  107 
Bon    Ton,    or   High   Life   Above 

Stairs,  169 
Boucicault,  Dion,  211 
Boyle,  Roger,  133 
Braganza,  194 
Bride's  Tragedy,  201 
Broken  Heart,  The,  119 
Broken  Hearts,  214 
Brooke,  Arthur,  as  a  source,  59 
Brothers,  The  (Young's),  162 
Brothers,    The     (Cumberland's), 

177 
Browning,  Robert,  201,  205-207 


252 


INDEX 


Buckingham,    Duke    of    (George 

Villiers),  134 
Buckthorne,  John  Baldwin,  211 
Bulwer-Lytton,  Edward,  201,  204- 

205,  206 
Burgoyne,  John,  191 
Burlesque,  167-169 
Busiris,  162 
Bussy  D'AmhoiSy  99 
Byron,  Lord  G.  G.,  199 
Byron,  as  critic,  197 
Byron,  Henry  James,  211 

Ccesar  Borgia,  141,  142 

Cain,  199 

Caius  Gracchus,  204 

Calisto  and  Meliho'a,  23 

Camhises   (Preston's),  28-29,  31 

Camhyses   (Settle's),  135 

Campaspe,  43-44 

Cardinal,  The,  121-122 

Careless  Hushand,  The,  154,  175 

Case  Is  Altered,  The,  92  (note) 

Cassilis  Engagement,  The,  234 

Caste,  213 

Castle  of  Perseverance,  The,  12- 

13 
Castle  Spectre,  The,  195 
Cathleen  ni  Eoolihan,  233 
Catiline,  94 
Cato,  156-157 
Cenci,  The,  199 
Censorship    of    plays,    147,    163, 

169,  210 
Centlivre,  Mrs.,  147,  154 
Change,  234 
Changeling,  The,  113 
Chapman,  George,  53,  98-101 
Chaste    Maid    in    Cheapside,    A, 

114 
Chesterton,  as  critic,  216 
Children   as   performers,    17,    19- 

20,  39-40 
Christian  Hero,  The,  166 
Chronicle  plays,  32-34 
Cibber,  Colley,  152,  153-155,  164, 

168,  170,  175,  180 
Cinthio's     Hecatommithi     as     a 

source,  48,  59,  78 
City  Madam,  The,  114 
Clandestine  Marriage    The,   169, 

174 


Classicism,  94,  97,  160 
CliflFord,  Martin,  134 
Closet  drama,  197-200,  210 
Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor,  198 
Coleridge,  as  critic,  195 
Colleen  Baivn,  The,  212 
Collier,    as    critic,    146-147,    154, 

155,  198 
Colman,  George  (the  elder),  173- 

174,  182,  183 
Colman,   George    (the  younger), 

191 
Colomle's  Birthday,  207 
Comedies,  first,  23-28 
Comedy  of  Errors,  The,  60,   61- 

62 
Comedy  of  humours,  94,  98 
Companies  of  actors,  38-40 
Conditions  of  presentation,  19-20, 

34-40,    127-129,    147,    193-197, 

216-219,  235-237 
Confederacy,  The,  152 
Congreve,  William,  148-151,  154, 

185 
Conquest  of  Granada,  The,   133, 

134,  136,  138 
Conscious  Lovers,  The,  156,  167 
Constantine  the  Great,  141 
Coriolanus    (Shakespeare's),   60, 

80-81 
Coriolanus  (Thomson's),  163 
Corneille,  influence  of,   129 
Corsican  Brothers,  The,  212 
Cosmo  de  Medici,  210 
Costume,  124,  190 
Countess     Cathleen,     The,     232- 

233 
Count  Julian,  198 
Count  of  Narhonne,  The,  194 
Country-Wife,  The,  139-140 
Cowley,  Hannah,  183,  191 
Critic,  The,  187-188 
Cromioell,  86 
Cumberland,     Richard,     176-178, 

187 
Cup,  The,  208,  209 
Current  tendencies,  235-237 
Cycles  of  plays,  7-8 
Cymheline,  37,  60,  82-83 
Cynthia's  Ret^els,  92   (note) 
Cyrus  the  Great,  or  The  Tragf 

of  Love,  142 


INDEX 


253 


Damon  and  Pithias  (Edwards's), 

27-28 
Damon  and  Pythias    (Banim's), 

202 
Dandy  Dick,  221 
Darnley,  205 
D'Avenant,  William,  98,  131,  135, 

166 
David  and  Bethsahe    {The  Love 

of  King  David  and  Fai/i'  Beth- 

sahe),  46-47 
David  GarricJc,  212 
Dear  Brutus,  227 
Death  of  Marloive,  The,  210 
Death's  Jest-Book,  201 
Deirdre,  233 

Deirdre  of  the  Sorrows,  234 
Dekker,  Thomas,  90,  92    (note), 

102-104,   110,  196 
Democratic    tendencies,    188-189, 

193-194 
De  Montfort,  200 
Deserted  Daughter,  The,  191 
Devil's  Disciple,  The,  225 
Devil's  Late-case,  The,  110 
Dido    Dueene    of    Carthage,    The 

Tragedie  of,  53 
Discovery,  The,  185 
Disobedient  Child,  The,  26-27 
Distresi    Mother,    The,    157-158, 

170 
Doctor's  Dilemma,  The,  225 
Dodsley,  as  editor,  161 
Domestic  tragedy,   164-167 
Don  Carlos,  143 
Don  Sebastian,  133,  137 
Doom  of  Devorgoil,  The,  198 
Double-Dealer,  The,  149-150 
Douglas,  171-173,  200 
Dr.  Faustus,  The  Tragicall  His- 
tory of,  53,  54-55 
Drinkwater,  John,  235 
Drrden,  John,  98,  127,  128,  132- 

i38,  142,  145,  160 
Duchess  de  la  Vallihre,  The,  205 
Duchess  of  Malfi,  The,  110-111 
Duchess  of  Padua,  The,  220 
Duenna,  The,  186 
Duke  of  Milan,  The,  114 
Dumas,  influence  of,  218 
Dumb-show,  31,  78,  163 
Dunsany,  Lord,  235 


Eastward  Ho!  101 

Edward  and  Eleanora,  163 

Edward  the  Second,  53,  55-56 

Edioard  III,  86 

EdAvard  IV,  109 

Edwards,  Richard,  27 

Eldest  Son,  The,  228 

Elements  contributing  to  Eliza- 
bethan drama,  21-23 

Elizabethan  age,  spirit  of,  21 

Elizabethan  drama,  compared 
with  Restoration,  127-128 

Empress  of  Morocco,  The,  135 

Enchanter,  The,  or  Love  and 
Magic,  169 

Endimion,  43,  44 

Englishman  at  Paris,  The,  173 

Englishman  Beturned  from  Paris, 
The,  173 

English  Traveller,  The,  109 

Epsom  Wells,  140 

Ervine,  St.  John  G.,  234-235 

Etherege,  George,  98,  139 

Evadne,  or  The  Statue,  202 

Everyman,  13-14,  235 

Every  Man  in  His  Humour,  92 
(note),  94 

Every  One  Has  His  Fault,  192 

Faire  Em,  86 

Fair  Maid  of  the  West,  The,  109 
Fair  Penitent,  The,  158-159 
Faithful   Shepherdess,   The,    106, 

107 
Falcon,  The,  207-208,  209 
Fall  of  Jerusalem,  The,  202 
Fall  of  Robespierre,  The,  198 
False  Delicaoy,  175-176,  182,  183 
Fanny's  First  Play,  225 
Farmer's   Return   from    London, 

The,  169 
Farquhar,  George,  152-153,  185 
Fashionable  Lover,  The,  178 
Fatal  Curiosity,  166 
Fatal  Dowry,  The,  158 
Fatal  Falsehood,  The,  191 
Fatal  Marriage,  The,  or  Innocent 

Adultery,  148 
Favorite  of  Fortune,  The,  211 
Fazio,  202 
Field,  N.,  158,  196 
Fielding,  Henrv,  164,  167-169 


254 


INDEX 


First    Part    of    the    Contention, 

The,  86 
Fletcher,    John,    81-82,    89,    90, 

104-108,   117,  129,  174,  196 
Fool's  Paradise,  A,  234 
Foote,  Samuel,  173-174,  190 
Ford,  John,  117-119,  196 
Foresters,  The,  208,  210 
Foundling,  The,  167 
Four  Elements,  Interlude  of  the 

Nature  of  the,  16 
Francis,  John  Oswald,  234 
Fredolfo,  202 
Friar  Bacon  and  Friar  Bungay, 

48 
Fugitive,  The,  2^8 
Funeral,  The,  155 
Furness,  as  editor,  88 

Oallathea,  43 

Galsworthy,  John,  227-228,  230, 

236 
Game  at  Chess,  A,  112 
Gamester,  The  (Shirley's),  121 
Gamester y    The    (Moore's),    167, 

175 
Gammer  Gurton's  Needle,  25-26 
Gaol  Gate,  The,  231 
Garrick,  David,  147,  169-171,  174, 

183,  190 
Gascoigne,  George,  27,  69 
Gay,  John,  164 
Gay  Lord  Quex,  The,  222 
Gentleman  Dancing-Master,  The, 

139 
Gentleman  Usher,  Tlve,  99-100 
Geoffrey    of     Monmouth,     as     a 

source,  30-31,  33 
Gilbert,  William  S.,  212-215 
Gilds,  trade,  5,  6 
Gloriana,   or  The   Court   of  Au- 

guMus  Ccesar,  141 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  179-184 
Good-Natured  Mam,  The,  182-183 
Gorhodmc,  30-31,  32,  163 
Gra/nd  Duke,  The,  214 
Great    Duke    of    Florence,    The, 

115 
Greene,  Robert,  41,  47-50,  53,  58, 

59 
Gregory,  Lady,  230-233 
Gregory  VI I,  210 


Gretchen,  214 
Grundy,  .Sydney,  284 

Ealidon  Hill,  198 

Hamlet,  52,  60,  76,  77-78,  87,  101, 

108,  163 
Hankin,  St.  John,  230,  234 
Harold,  207,  208-209 
Hazlitt,  as  critic,  151,  190,  195, 

200,  201,  202 
Heiress,  The,  191 
Henry  lY,  29,  60,  70 
Henry  V,  The  Famous  Victories 

of  (early  play),  23 
Henry  V  (Shakespeare's),  60,  70- 

71 
Henry  the  Fifth,  The  History  of 

(Orrery's),  133 
Henry  VI,  60,  63,  85,  86 
Henry  VIII,  82,  86,  105 
Herod,  228 
Heroic  drama,  127,  130-131,  134- 

136 
Heywood,  John,  16-18 
Heywood,   Thomas,    108-110,    126 
Hick  Scomer,  15-16 
Historical  Register  for  1736,  The, 

168 
Holcroft,  Thomas,  191 
Holinshed,  as  a  source,  33 
Home,  John,  171-173 
Honest  Whore,  The,  103 
Home,  Richard  Hengiat,  210 
House  of  Aspen,  The,  198 
Howard,  Robert,  133 
Hughes,  Thomas.  31 
Hugo,  influence  of,  218,  21» 
Huguenot,  The,  202 
Hunchback,  The,  204 
Hyaeinth  Halevy,  231 
Hyde  Park,  120 
Hypocrites,  The,  233 

Ibsen,  influence  of,  219,  222,  235 
Ideal  Hushand,  An,  220 
Idealism,  226 
ini  Tell  You  What,  191 
Importance    of    Being    Earnest, 

The,  220 
Inchbald,  Elizabeth,  191 
Ingeland.  Thomas,  26 
Indian  Queen,  The,  133 


INDEX 


255 


Interlude,  15-16 

Irene,  189 

Irish  National  Theatre,  230-233 

Irish  Widow,  The,  169 

Iron  Chest,  The,  192 

Ja^k  Drum,  92  (note) 

Jack  Juggler,  24 

James  the  Fourth,  48-49 

Jane  Clegg,  235 

Jane  Shore,  The  Tragedy  of,  159 

Jealous  Wife,  The,  174 

Jeffrey,  as  critic,  196 

Jephson,  Robert,  194 

Jeronimo,  First  Part  of,  50 

Jerrold,  Douglas  William,  211 

Jew  of  Malta,  The,  53,  55 

John  Bull's  Other  Island,  225 

John  Ferguson,  235 

John,  King  of  England,  The  Trou- 
blesome Raigne  of  (in  Shake- 
speare Apocrypha ) ,  86 

Johnson,  Samuel,  189 

Joseph  a/nd  His  Brethren,  201 

John  Woodvil,  198 

Jones,  Henry  Arthur,  222-223, 
229   234 

Jonso'n,  Ben,  81,  82,  87,  91-98, 
103,   117,  129,  140,  168,  196 

Joy,  228 

Judah,  223 

Judas  Iscariot,  210 

Julia,  194 

Julius  Cccsar,  60,  76-77 

Justice,  228 

Keats,  John,  198 

Kelly,  Hugh,  175-176 

Killigrew,  Thomas,  131   (note) 

King  and  No  King,  A,  82,  105, 
106 

King  Edward  the  First,  The  Fa- 
mous Chronicle  of,  45 

King  John  (Shakespeare's),  9, 
60,  65 

King  John,  The  Troublesome 
Reign  of  (early  play),  33 

King  Lear,  60,  79-80,  85 

King  Leir,  The  True  Chronicle 
History  of,  and  His  Three 
Daughters,  Oonorill,  Ragan, 
Cordelia,  33 


King  Victor  and  King  Charles, 
205 

Kismet,  236 

Kiss  for  Cinderella,  A,  227 

Knight    of    the   Burning    Pestle, 

The,  105,  107 
Knoblock,  Edward,  236 
Knowles,    James    Sheridan,    29, 

201,  203-204 
Kotzebue,  influence  of,  188,   192, 

194-195,  202 
Kyd,  Thomas,  42,  50-52,  59,  90 
Kynge  Johan  (Bale's),  32 

Lady  of  Lyons,  The,  205 

Lady  of  Pleasure,  The,  121 

Lady  Windermere's  Fan,  220-221 

Lamb,  Charles,  198 

Lamb,  as  editor,  195 

Land  of  Heart's  Desire,  The,  232 

Landor,  Walter  Savage,  198 

Last  of  the  De  Mullins,  The,  234 

Lee,  Nathaniel,  136,  141-142,  145 

Legge,  Thomas,  33 

Lewis,  M.  G.,  195 

Liars,  The,  223 

Licensing  acts,  123,  168-169,  178, 

198 
Life  for  Life,  211 
Life  Ransom,  A,  211 
Like  Will  to  Like,  16 
Lilliput,  169 

Lillo,  George,  164-167,  210 
Lindesay,  David,  12 
Little  Dream,  The,  228 
Little  Minister,  The,  226 
Locrine,  86 

Lodge,  Thomas,  41,  42 
London  Assurance,  211 
London   Merchant,    The,    165-166 
Looking   Glass  for   London  and 

England,  A,  48 
Love  and  a  Bottle,  152 
Love  and  Honour,  132 
Love  Chase,  The,  204 
Love  for  Love,  150 
Love  in  a  Wood,  139 
Lover's  Melancholy,  The,  118 
Love's  Labour's  Lost,  60,  61,  85 
Love's  Last  Shift,  or  The  Fool  in 

Fashion,  152,  154,  175 
Love's  Metamorphosis,  43 


256 


INDEX 


Lovers  Sacrifice,  119 

Love  Triumphant,  133,  137 

Loyal  Brother,  The,  or  The  Per- 
sian Prince,  148 

Lucius  Junius  Brutus,  Father  of 
His  Country,  141 

Lu/ria,  207 

Lying  Lover,  The,  155,  175 

Lying  Varlet,  The,  169 

Lyly,  John,  41,  42-45,  59,  89, 
116 

Macbeth,  37,  60,  80-81 

Macduff's  Cross,  198 

Madras  House,  The,  230 

Magistrate,  The,  221 

Maid  of  Bath,  The,  174 

Maid  of  Honour,  The,  115 

Maid  of  the  Oaks,  The,  191 

Maid's  Tragedy,  The,  82,  105,  107 

Malcontent,  The,  101 

Man  and  Superman,  225 

Mankind,  13 

Man  of  Destiny,  The,  225 

Man  of  Mode,  The,  139 

Manfred,  199 

Manuel,  202 

Marie  de  Meranie,  211 

Marino  Faliero,  199 

Marlowe,  Christopher,  33,  42,  47, 

52-56,  59,  116,  160,  201 
Marriage-a-la-Mode,  135 
Marriage  of  Wit  and  Science,  The, 

16 
Marrying  of  Anna  Leete,  The,  230 
Marston,  John,   92    (note),    101- 

102 
Marston,  John  Westland.  211 
Martyr  of  Antioch,  The,  202 
Masefield,  John,  235 
Massinger,    Philip,    90,    114-117, 

158,  196 
Masque,  82,  83,  93,  97 
Masqueraders,  The,  223 
Massacre    of    Paris,    The    (Mar- 
lowe's), 53 
Massacre  of  Paris,  The    (Lee's), 

141 
Maturin,   Charles  Robert,   202 
Maugham,  W.  Somerset,  235 
Measure  for  Measure,  60,   75-76, 

81 


Melodrama,  194,  211,  218 
Merchant  of  Venice,  The,  60,  68- 

69 
Meres,  Francis,  45 
Merry  Devill,  The,  86 
Merry   Wives    of   Windsor,    The, 

60,  71,  94 
Michael  and  His  Lost  Angel,  223 
Midas,  43 
Mid-Ch<innel,  222 
Middleton,  Thomas,  111-114 
Midsummer   Night's    Dream,    A, 

60,  68,  169 
Milestones,  236 
Milman,  Henry  Hart,  202 
Minor,  The,  174 
Mikado,  The,  214 
Miracle  plays,  4,  123 
Misfortunes  of  Arthur,  The,  31 
Mitford,  Mary  Russell,  203 
Mithridates,   141,   142 
Mixed  Marriage,  235 
Moh,  The,  228 
Moli&re,    influence   of,    129,    140, 

161 
Money,  205 

Monsieur  D'Olive,  99-100 
Montoni,  202 
Moore,  Edward.  167 
Morality,  4,  11-14,  235 
More,  Hannah,  191 
Mother  Bomhie,  43 
Mourning  Bride,  The,  150 
M.  P.,  213 

Mountaineers,  The,  192 
Mrs.  Dane's  Defence,  223 
Mrs.  Warren's  Profession,  225 
Mucedorus,  86 
Much    Ado    About    Nothing,    60, 

71-72 
Munday.  Anthony,  91-92  (note) 
Mustapha,    the   Son  of  Solynian 

the  Magnificent,  133 
Mysterious  Mother,  The,  194 
Mystery  plays,  4 

Nash,  Thomas,  41,  42,  52 

Naturalism,  219 

Neilson,  as  editor,  88 

Nero,  Emperour  of  Rome  (Lee'i), 

141 
Nero   (Phillips's),  228 


INDEX 


257 


l^ew  Way  to  Pay  Old  Belts,  A, 

115 
Nice  Wanton,  26 
Norton,  Thomas,  30 
North's  Plutarch  as  a  source,  59 
Notorious   Mrs.    Ehhsmith,    The, 

222 
Not  so  Bad  as  We  Seem,  205 
Novel     as     compared     with     the 

drama,  160-161 

CEdipus,  136 

Old  Bachelor,  The,  149 

Old  Fortunatus,  103 

Old   Heads   and    Young   Hearts, 

212 
Old  Maids,  204 
Old  Wives'  Tale,  The,  45,  47 
Orlando  Furioso,  48 
Oroonoko,   or   The   Royal   Slave, 

148 
Orphan,  The,  143-144 
Orrery,  Earl  of  (see  Roger  Boyle) 
Osorio,  198 

Othello,  60,  78-79,  85,  108,  114 
Otho  the  Great,  199 
Otway,    Thomas,     142-144,     145, 

155,  199,  210 
Ours,  213 

Padlock,  The,  170 

Painter's  Palace  of  Pleasure  as 

a  source,  59,  75 
Pantomime,  163-164 
Paolo  and  Francesca,  228,  229 
Pasquin,  168 

Patrician's  Daughter,  The,  211 
Peele,  George,  33,  41,  45-47 
Percy,  191 
Pericles,  86 
Perkin  Warbeck,  119 
Peter  Pan,  226,  227 
Phaedra  and  Hippolytus,  157 
Philanderer,  The,  225 
Philaster,  82,  105,  107 
Philips,  Ambrose,  157,  170 
Phillips,   Stephen,  228-230 
Pigeon,  The,  228 
Pinafore,  H.  M.  S.,  214 
Pinero,    Arthur    Wing,    221-222, 

229,  230,  234 
Pippa  Passes,  206 


Pirates  of  Penzance,  The,  214 

Plain  Dealer,  The,  139-140 

Plautus,  influence  of,  22-24,  62 

Play,  213 

Play  within  a  play,  52,  78,  115 

Playboy  of  the  Western  World, 
The,  233-234 

Play  of  the  Wether,  18 

Pocock,  Isaac,  211 

Poetaster,  The,  92    (note),  102 

Pope,  Alexander,  87,  149,  154, 
161 

Preston,  Thomas,  28 

Princess  and  the  Butterfly,  The, 
222 

Princess  of  Cleve,  The,  141 

Prisoner  of  Zenda,  The,  235 

Profligate,  The,  221 

Promise  of  May,  The,  208,  209- 
210 

Promos  and  Cassandra,  76 

Provoked  Husband,  The,  152,  175 

Provoked  Wife,  The,  152 

Prynne,  William,  125 

Puritan  attitude  toward  the 
stage,  117,  122-126,  198 

Pygmalion  (Shaw's),  226 

Pygmalion  and  Galatea  (Gil- 
bert's), 214 

Queen  Mary,  207,  208,  209 
Quern  Quaeritis,  2,  3 

Racine,  influence  of,  157,  161 
Ralph  Roister  Doister,  24-25 
Reade,  Charles,  211 
Realism,  23,  219,  225-226 
Recruiting  Officer,  The,  152 
Rehearsal,  The,  133,  135,  173 
Relapse,  The,  or  Virtue  in  Dan- 

ger,  152,  187 
Remorse,  198 

Restoration    drama,    characteris- 
tics of,  127-131 
Return  of  the  Druses,  The,  205 
Revenge,  The,  162 
Revenger's  Tragedy,  The,  111 
Rich,  John,  163-164,  171 
Richard  III,  55-56,  60,  65-66 
Richard  III,  60,  64-65,  85,  154 
Ricardus  Tertius  Tragedia,  33 
Richelieu,  205 


258 


INDEX 


Riders  to  the  Sea,  2S3 

Jiienzi,  203 

Rightful  Heir,  The,  205 

Rising  of  the  Moon,  The,  231-232 

Rival  Kings,  The,  142 

Rival  Ladies,  The,  133 

Rival  Queens,  The,  or  The  Death 

of  Alexander  the   Great,    141, 

142 
Rivals,  The,  185-186,  187 
Road  to  Ruin,  The,  191 
Robertson,  T.  W.,  212-213,  214 
Roman  Actor,  The,  115 
Roman  Father,  The,  170 
Romanticism,  97,   117,   160,   171- 

173,  191,  193-215,  esp.  193-197, 

217 
Romeo  and  Juliet,  60,  66-67,  169 
Rowe,  Nicholas,   158-159,  161 
Rowley,  William,   112,   196 
Runaway,  The,  191 
Rymer,  as  critic,  136 

Sackville,  Thomas,  30 

Saints  and  Sinners,  223 

Salome,  220,  221 

Sapho  and  Phao,  43 

Sardanapalus,  199 

Satiromastix,  92   (note),  102 

School,  213 

School  for  Scandal,  The,  174, 
187,  191 

Schoolmistress,  The,  221 

Scott,  Clement,  as  critic,  219 

Scott,   Walter,   198 

Scribe,  influence  of,  218,  222 

Second  Mrs.  Tanqueray,  The, 
221-222 

Second  Shepherd's  Play,  8 

Secular  elements  in  early  drama, 
8-10 

Sejanus,  94-95 

Seneca,  22,  28-30,  52,  98 

Sentimentalism,  146,  160-178,  csp. 
174-178,  179-182 

Settle,  Elkanah,  135 

Seven  Deadly  Sins.  11,  54.  80 

Shadowy  Waters,  The.  233 

Shadweil,  Thomas,  140 

Shakespeare,  William,  33.  50,  52, 
65,  56,  57-58  (life),  59-60  (in- 
debtedness to  predecessors),  61- 


67  (plays  of  first  period),  67- 
74  (plays  of  second  period), 
74-81  (plays  of  third  period), 
81-84  (plays  of  fourth  period), 
84-85  (advance  in  nrt),  85-88 
(tradition),  88-89  (greatness), 
90,  92  (note),  108,  127-129, 
140,  154,  158,  150,  161,  162 
(Voltaire's  attitude  toward), 
169-170  (Garrick's  adaptation 
of),  190,   196,  236 

Shakespeare  Apocrypha,  86 

Shaughraun,  The,  212 

Shaw,  George  Bernard,  224-226, 
230,  236 

Sheil,  Richard  Lalor,  201-202 

Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe,  199 

Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley,  176, 
184-188,  197,  204,  229 

She  Stoops  to  Conquer,  153,  173, 
183-184 

Shirley,  James,  90,  110-122,  196, 
202 

Shoemaker's  Boliday,  The,  103 

Siege  of  Rhodes,  The.  132 

Sign  of  the  Cross,  The,  235 

Silver  Box,  The,  228 

Silver  King,  The,  223 

Sin  of  David,  The,  228 

Sir  Giles  Goosecap,  100 

Sir  Thomas  More,  86 

Smith,  Edmund,  157 

Society,  212,  213 

Solimon  and  Perseda,  The  Trag- 
edy of,  50 

Sophonisha,  or  EannihaVs  Over- 
throw   (Lee's),   141 

Sophonisha  (Thomson's),  162-163 

Soul's  Tragedy,  A,  207 

Southerns  Thomas,  148,  155 

Southey,  Robert,  198 

Sowing  the  Wind,  234 

Spanish  Friar,  The,  or  The  Dou- 
ble Discovery,  133,  137 

Spanish  Tragedy,  The,  51-52,  77 

Sprat,  Thomas,  134 

Spreading  the  Neics,  231 

Stage,  Elizabethan,  36-38 

Steele,  Richard,   155-156 

St  Patrick's  Day,  186 

iStrafford,  206 

Strathmore,  211 


INDEX 


259 


^rife,  228 

Stubbes,  as  critic,  124-125 

t:iuch  Things  Are,  191 

Sue,  influence  of,  218 

Supposes,  27,  69 

tSurrender  of  Calais,  The,  192 

Sweet  Lavender,  221 

Synge,  John  Millington,  233-234 


Tatnhurlaine  the  Great,  53-54 

Tamerlane,  159 

Taming  of  the  Shrew,  The,  27,  60, 
69,  170 

Tancred  and  Sigismunda,  163 

Taylor,  Tom,  211 

Temper  of  Middle  Ages,  11 

Tempest,  The,  37,  60,  83-84 

Tender  Husband,  The,  155 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  207-210 

Theatre,  playhouse  and  institu- 
tion, 34-36,  124,  127-129,  189- 
190,   193-195,  218,  235-237 

Theobald,  as  critic,  87,  154,  161 

Theodosius,  or  The  Force  of  Love, 
141 

Thersites,  23-24 

Thomson,  James,  162-163 

Thunderbolt,  The,  222 

Timon  of  Athens,  60,  85 

'Tis  Pity  She's  a  Where,  118-119 

Titus  Andronicus,  60,  63-64,  77, 
85 

Tourneur,  Cyril,  111 

Tragedies,  first,  28-32 

Tragedy  of  Nan,  The,  235 

Tragicomedy,  100,  110,  137 

Traitor,  The,  121 

Traveling  Man,  The,  231 

Trial  by  Jury,  214 

Trick  to  Catch  the  Old  One,  A, 
113-114 

Trilby,  235 

Triumph  of  Peace,  The,  121 

Troilus  and  Cressida,  60,  74-75, 
81,  92  (note),  136 

Tropes,  2 

True  Tragedie,  The,  86 

Twelfth  Night,  49,  60,  61,  73-74 

Two  Foscari,  The,  199 

Two  Oentlemen  of  Verona,  The, 
60,  62-63,  85 


£200  a  Year,  221 
Two  Mr.  Weatherbys,  The,  234 
Tuo  Noble  Kinsmen,  The,  82,  86 
Tyrannic    Love,    or    The    Royal 
Martyr,  134 


Udall,  Nicholas,  24-25 

Ulysses,  228 

Unhappy  Favorite,  The,  142 

Unities,  30,  163 


Vanbrugh,  John,  08,  151-152,  153, 

180 
Venice  Preserved,  143-144 
Vera,  or  The  Nihilists,  220 
Vice,  the,  18-19 
Virginius,  204 
Volpone,  95 
Voltaire,  88,  161-162 
Voysey  Inheritance,  The,  230 


Walpole,  205 

War,  213 

Wat  Tyler,  198 

Way  of  the  World,  The,  160-151 

Webster,  John,  90,  110-111,  196, 

201 
Wells,  Charles,  201 
Werner,  199 

Wesleyan  revival,  198,  217 
West  Indian,  The,  177,  183 
What  Every  Woman  Knows,  226, 

227 
What  You  Will   (Maraton's),  92 

(note) 
Whetstone,  George,  76 
White  Devil,  The,  110 
Whitehead,  William,  170 
Wicked  World,  The,  214 
Widowers'  Houses,  225 
Wilde,  Oscar,  220-221 
Wild  Oallant,  The,  133 
William  Tell,  204 
Winter's  Tale,  The,  48,  60,  83 
Wives  as  They  Were,  191 
Woman  in  the  Moone,  The,  43 
Woman  Killed  icith  Kindness,  A, 

108-109 
Wom,an  of  No  Importance,  A,  220 


260  INDEX 

Wo7ider'   The,   A   Woman  Keeps  Yeats,   William   Butler,   232-233, 

a  Secret,  147  234 

Wordsworth,  William,  198  Yorkshire  Tragedu,  A,  86 

Wycherley,  William,  139-140, 146,  Young,  Edward,  i62 

170 


I 


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